Skip to main content

Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera

One Gin was not quite enough for me to get through this. New production. Directorial debut of Kasper Holten. Simon Keenlyside as Eugene Onegin. It could have been so good. It wasn't. The least distracting was the staging - a few pillars, projected backdrops to portray the fields, bedroom, sun rise, snow storm did work. The orchestra played the score well under Ticciati, bar a few moments that lacked momentum.

Krassimira Stoyanova just didn't have the appropriate mannerism for Tatyana. Her voice was good but there was not enough ring and agility to portray the character adequately. And what's this dancing in the Letter Scene? I thought the female dancer was supposed to be Tatyana's imagination. But it really didn't work when Nurse (Kathleen Wilkinson sang that well) started singing at the dancer! Nyet!

The same thing recurred during the duel between Onegin and Lensky. There it was - the alto ego of Onegin milling around. Double Vision! Nyet!

And there was NO BALLROOM SCENE!!! The grand polonaise provided the cue, but one expected a scene at court, courtiers dancing, not modern dancers doing something completely different. Nyet!
Labels:
Location: London, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Written On Skin at the Royal Opera

This was the first revival of George Benjamin's Written On Skin. As with contemporary operas, familiarity goes a long way in appreciating the work. In this revival, I found Christopher Purves's The Protector powerful and moving. Barbara Hannigan, who sang Agnès, was superb. The pure and slightly eerie tone of Iestyn Davies as The Boy completed the perfect cast.
Post a Comment
Read more

Götterdämmerung at The Met

Carl Fillion's set design for The Ring at The Met caused a real stir at the premier. Though not having the luxury of seeing the whole Ring, I managed to get a ticket to see Götterdämmerung. Fabio Luisi at the helm of the large Met orchestra kept everything going. There was enough breathing space for the drama to unfold, and there were muscular moments that needed to punctuate the drama. Probably not as poised as Bernard Haitink at Covent Garden many years ago, or as gutsy as Antonio Pappano this season in the same house. But nonetheless very good. Deborah Voigt was a fine Brünhilde - as the role demands from beginning to end. Lars Cleveman was quite a believable Siegfried - youngish looking, jumps about, looking slightly naive on stage. Hans-Peter Köonig was OK - none of his phrases sent shiver down my spine as there was not enough evil. Back to the set. The rotating 'fingers' really worked (you can see them in this pic - sitting above the performers), especially
Post a Comment
Read more

La Voix Humaine, Glyndebourne

Stéphanie d’Oustrac starred in this one act / single cast Poulenc opera. The minimalist stage (Caroline Ginet) consisted of a tilting platform with an old fashioned dial telephone. But that's all it took for the drama to unfold. d’Oustrac was able to draw us into her conversation, expressing the challenging feelings of frustration, anxiety, disappointment and dare we say hope? A superb performance it was.
Post a Comment
Read more