Diary of a Culture Hedonist

OK it's not Puccini, but Giordano's work telling of this Les Mis drama is still worthy of today's opera houses. Roberto Alagna sang a heroic, at times shouty, Andrea Chénier (Jonas Kaufmann last tackled the role with far greater sensitivity). Sondra Radvanovsky was a wonderful Maddalena di Coigny who carried the role well from innocent aristocratic girl to lovelorn madame in revolutionary France. Carlo Gérard, sung by Dimitri Platanias, sounded great. David McVicar's production really worked, from the sumptuous chateau opening scene through to an urban prison. Daniel Oren did a good job to bring out this richly score and seldom performed work to life. Glad to have seen it again.

Did Berlioz intend to have La damnation de Faust staged? Perhaps he did. But the score had everything in it. So it's interesting to see any staged performance of this fantastic work. What worked? I thought Richard Jones's direction for recreating various imaginary scenes on an austere stage set worked pretty well, from the beer halls along the Rhine through to Marguerite's prison. Christopher Purves was a good, not-too-intrusive Méphistophélès. Allan Clayton attacked the challenging role of Faust with sensitivity. Robin Ticciati waved his stick and the super LPO complied. What didn't work? Sixty-odd singers in the chorus didn't do the work justice. Berlioz intended a big chorus sound. The velvety Songe de Faust sounded thin, and the big drinking song climax was disappointing. When Mark Elder did Faust recently with the Hallé (Feb 2019), there were over 100 men, plus a big children's chorus - Berlioz would like to have 200-300 children in the final scene - ...

This was a new production of Britten Billy Budd. It was last staged at the Royal Opera before the turn of the millennium. Billy Budd was sung by Jacques Imbrailo who portrayed a playful and naive youth well. His voice was in character, though seemed a little tired towards the end. Toby Spence gave us a nuanced and at times helpless Captain Vere. Brindley Sherratt's portrayal of Claggart was subtle, and his verminous streak really came out in the confrontation with Budd. Donald was sung by a muscular Duncan Rock. Michael Levine's three dimensional set did the job, though the nautical theme relied heavily on the  20th century Royal Navy uniform. Ivor Bolton's reading of Britten's rich score was good - I loved the drums coming from the boxes during the battle scene. Let's hope they bring this great work back sooner.

Got an unexpected chance to see this Arthur Miller play at The Old Vic with a starry cast. The play is set on a simple but detailed stage. All action evolved around the backyard of this simple house. The first half of the play was slow. I thought the clues about the events to come were either too subtle, or too hidden. Either way, it took a long time for the audience to begin to realise something darker and complex was to come. Still, it took a while to get there. The second half, on the other hand, moved much more quickly with greater dramatic effect. The best was probably the clash between Bill Pullman (who played Joe Keller) and Colin Morgan (his son Chris Keller). Colin Morgan's about turn from a love-struck puppy to a vengeful grown up was powerfully delivered. Jenna Coleman (played Chris Keller's love interest Ann Deever) and Sally Field (played Kate Keller) drew out the more emotionally torturous plot. Was the "price of the American Dreram" laid bare? N...