Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci, Opera Holland Park - opera review

Tragedy is amid a riot of colour in this new double bill. Stuart Stratford brings a rhythmic tautness and lyrical sweep to these verismo scores and has under his baton two very strong casts
p91 edition 05/06 Cavaleria Rusticana at Holland Park Opera Peter Auty as Turiddu ©Alastair Muir
12 June 2013

Opera Holland Park has, over the last dozen years or so, established itself as a major cultural provider in the capital. Now a private company and a charity, but still supported by Kensington & Chelsea council, it has succeeded in building an impressive supporter base: the names of its Friends and Elite Donors fill six tightly-packed pages of the programme. Accessibility to young and old is also creditable. Musical standards remain the priority rather than production values, and one can now expect to hear some of the finest singers and orchestral players at this postcode.

The new Cav & Pag is under the musical direction of Stuart Stratford, whose Forza del Destino was the highlight of the 2010 season. Stratford brings a similar rhythmic tautness and lyrical sweep to these verismo scores and has under his baton two very strong casts.

In Cavalleria Rusticana, Gweneth-Ann Jeffers once again proves her vocal authority with Santuzza, while Stephen Gadd’s Alfio is also outstanding. Gadd returns as a menacing Tonio in Pagliacci, joined by the admirable Nedda of Julia Sporsén.

Sadly things are not so hot on the production front. Stephen Barlow sets Cav in Sicily, 1944. It’s a reasonable idea: the soldier Turiddu expects a sexual return for his national service. But that’s about it, except for a lot of oranges.

One hoped that with all the carnal excess, they might be put to some interesting use, but all we get is an ominous flash of a knife, also used to peel the fruit. Flashes of theatrical inspiration, on the other hand, or original insights into the dramaturgy, are conspicuously lacking.

Oranges return in Barlow’s Pagliacci in the hands of a fallible juggler. Here we move forward to Calabria, 1974 — designer Yannis Thavoris’s costumes are a riot of floral shirts and orange trousers. His clown, an impassioned Canio, abandons motley for pinstripe: a nice touch that brings the tragedy closer to home.

On this evidence, however, the vibrant fusion of music and theatre is a nut that OHP has still to crack.

Until June 28 (0300 999 1000, boxoffice@operahollandpark.com)

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