Royal Opera House 2016: Il trittico (Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi) ★★★★

Il tabarro - Photo by Bill Cooper

[5th March 2016]
The longer awaited production of Richard Jone's Il Trittico at the Royal Opera House was a relief for many who saw the premier back in 2011, which received positive reviews at the time, However Puccini's triptych of love, jealousy, murder, loss and comic trickery wasn't always performed together. For example, Suor Angelica would be dropped, while Gianni Schicchi would be paired with another opera, and so forth. For this production conductor, Nicola Luisotto is on top form, fashioning the diverse styles of Puccini - when the music was dramatic Luiosotto made sure you knew trouble was on its way. 

I've had the pleasure of seeing Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi by the talented Fulham Opera (review here) as well as Opera Holland Park's captivating production of all three (review here), and from this I've realised that putting these one-act operas together (originally Puccini's intention) - with their various storylines, diverse subject matters and versatile music - makes it a far more enjoyable night at the opera compared to seeing them as separate entities. What's more touching is that at the time of composing Il trittico (1918), Puccini was going through a difficult time in his life, making these operas more intimate and insightful of the composer's life. 

Il tabarro ★★★★
Some may not consider Il tabarro (The Cloak) as their favourite opera but I relish the opportunity to hear it because of the unique music, lovely arias, intriguing detail and riveting narrative - a married woman who is driven into a clandestine affair with one of her husband's workers as a way of coping with child loss. It's fair to say that Il tabarro is definitely not a happy opera. Alongside the main story, which ends with a monstrous murder scene, Puccini opens up a picture of Paris seeped with poverty, misery and a constant yearning for a better life, by the lower classes. 

Based on Didier Gold's play, La Houppelande, Puccini felt compelled to turn it into a melodrama opera, which is set in a similar time and societal space as his famous opera, La bohème. Stage designer, Ultz places the opera on the dock of the River Seine with Parisians minding their own business - kissing their lover in the backstreets and bargaining for pleasure - with a boat for our child-less couple Michele and Giorgetta. Italian baritone Lucio Gallo's Michele exhibits the sadness and loneliness felt of man destroyed of this loss. Michele's sings to his wife in desperate need of affection, reflecting on the moments he wrapped her and their child with his cloak, while Giorgetta rejects him and gives flimsy excuses for not kissing him when he requests it.

Patricia Racette, as Giorgetta, misplaces her love and desire for Luigi, persuading him to come back when Michele is asleep. Racette enthralls the audience with her splendid voice and Carl Tanner had me listening attentively when he sang lyrically and exquisitely to Hai ben ragione! meglio non pensare. I suppose it must be all that pitying for all of the characters including Frugola (Irina Mishura) and the burden of child loss that moved me the most. One moment complete euphoria, for Michele, and then complete despair and death for Luigi.

Suor Angelica - Ermonela Jaho - Photo by Clare Colvin

Suor Angelica ★★★★
Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho is back again to regale us with her glorious performance as Angelica, as she did back in 2011. Suor Angelica is a spiritual opera that is said to have the most poignant and lyrical music of all three. Some of Puccini's best music comes from Il trittico (I agree) and again, this beautiful opera has a heartbreaking story to tell. Miriam Buether's set is a 20th century children's hospital where nuns look after children patients in a ward. 

Having lived an immoral life, according to her family, Angelica is sent to a nunnery. After many years, she receives a visit from her unforgiving aunt who gives her the most devastating news. Jaho gives a courageous performance as Angelica, demanding an answer of the well-being of her son and showing the grief and shock as if it were real. Anna Larsson received a boo at the end but that was simply because of her convincing portrayal as the selfish and cold-hearted aunt who broke (our) Angelica's heart.

Jaho's performance in Senza mamma is like a knife. When you see her wobble and weep as she realises the consequence of drinking poison, which Angelica thinks would bring her closer to her son, it really is harrowing. Her isolation and segregation from the other nuns is made clearer in their inability to do nothing as she goes into a frenzy, grabbing and begging them to help her. The enchanting music and courageous singing makes this one of the most moving opera performances I've ever seen; many in the audience were in tears by the end of it. 

Gianni Schicchi - Photo by Bill Cooper

Gianni Schicchi ★★★
Wasn't it kind of Puccini to compose a lighthearted opera with the ‘desire to laugh and make others laugh' after all the dark melodrama and heart ache? Here, Gallo puts down Michele's cloak and returns to the stage as the raw and wittier Schicchi who saves the Donati family (well,) by impersonating their dead relative. In John Macfarlane's staging of Buoso's warmly-lit home, the family hang around waiting for the last moments of Buoso to die so they can each identify what they had inherited. To their disappointment, it turns out that Buoso had left them nothing and offered everything to the local monastery instead - they don't even get his mule!

Gallo gives a memorable performance as Schicchi while Sussana Hurrell performed beautifully as Lauretta as she sung O mio babbino caro, delightfully; the audience sighed and applauded loudly as soon as she was done. Sicilian tenor Paolo Fanale was also a glowing voice on the stage as Lauretta's fiancé, together they represented the sweet side to the opera, fluttering their eyelids, encouraging Schicchi to help the family out so they can get married sooner. Much praise goes to the hilarious ensemble as the disgruntled and complacent money-hungry family sung by Elena Zilio, Marie McLaughlin, David Kempster, Gwynne Howell and Tiziano Bracci.

Production ends on the 15th March 2015. Although it is three operas, it is shown in one performance. Click here to purchase tickets or call the ROH on the day to see if there are any return tickets. 

Bloody good! I feel relieved to be smiling after the tears & drama. Brilliant evening @RoyalOperaHouse #ROHtrittico pic.twitter.com/g46lni71BQ

— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) March 5, 2016

#SuorAngelica Some of the best music composed by Puccini.Marvellously rendered by Jaho, Luisotti &cast #ROHtrittico pic.twitter.com/0MBbjaloUe

— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) March 5, 2016

Ermonela Jaho was amazing on stage as they say she'd be. Here she is as the virgin Mary! #Suorangelica #ROHtrittico pic.twitter.com/23ONnEdNyh

— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) March 5, 2016

#Gameover. My makeup is all over my hands and my face. That's when you know an opera is a success #Suorangelica #ROHtrittico

— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) March 5, 2016

Not the clearest pic but here's a curtain call shot for an opera that moved me to tears #Iltabarro #ROHtrittico 😭 pic.twitter.com/IciKqLBjKg

— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) March 5, 2016

Come on - Il tabarro is good!It got good when it was about drinking,life not worth living, all that murdering & cheating wifey #ROHtrittico

— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) March 5, 2016

ENO: Richard Jones' The Girl of the Golden West (La fanciulla del West) ★★★★★

It’s been an interesting year for English National Opera (ENO). Ever since the funding cuts from the Arts Council and onslaught of mixed reviews for their recent productions of Xerxes and Otello, it appeared that the ENO were getting a bit of a bad reputation. They were criticised for poor stage direction, lack of imagination and, repeatedly, denounced for their use of English in Italian operas; yet Richard Jones’ production of Puccini’s The Girl from the Golden West (La fanciulla del West) has bolstered up standards, reviving hope and optimism for the ENO stage. 

Puccini’s ‘magnus opus’ namely La fanciulla del West is said to be his best work and from the score alone there's no denying that the opera, which flourishes with melody, grandeur and influences from Debussy, Stravinsky and Richard Strauss, can captivate even the coldest philistine. The prosperity of the opera stems from Puccini's ability to capture the Western mysticism of the 1850s' Californian Gold Rush. Despite, the opera, having little prominence, like La Rondine, the ENO's production, with Susan Bullock’s masterful voice, Miriam Buether's tough Western set designs and delightful chorus singers, will make audiences’ emotions overflow.

The conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, who had her UK operatic debut, instills grace and tenderness into Puccini’s score as he would have foreseen it. The music soars and reaches a climax in the overture, Minnie’s on stage entrance and the lovers ‘first kiss’ scene; yet this triumphant music interweaves nicely to compliment Minnie's self-efficient and heroine-like character. The ENO male chorus do an impeccable job too portraying homesick miners, parading in a saloon with guns and gambling cards.

Our cast is dressed close to a rough mining environment; but not as far back as the 1850s’s as Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini ‘s libretto describes it. Buether's stage is set up like a Western saloon with large letters that read ‘POLKA’ at the top with brightly lit beer bottles neatly displayed on the wall. By act II we are presented with a two-floor cut out home and a US Marshall office by the third act with nothing special attached to it; but this - just - demonstrates how profound the music and easy to follow the story line truly is.

Minnie (Bullock) is the woman of the miners' town who teaches stories from the bible and is loved by all particularly the Sheriff, Rance (Craig Colclough) who she rejects after numerous proposals including $1000 just for a kiss. She sings, 'Real love cannot be purchased’ and insists on waiting for the right man and then, enters Dick Johnson from Sacramento (Peter Auty) who bedazzles her with metaphors and adorable dancing though, it turns out that, Dick is actually the Spanish bandit, Ramerrez who the town want dead. This puts Minnie’s character under the spotlight, which is why she's an interesting prima donna: she's no damsel in distress. 

Bullock's Minnie is an outstanding one as her independent spirit radiates through Bullock's exuberant top notes. There’s always a thin line between screaming and singing; yet Bullock manages to give an astounding performance without crossing the line. Auty's Ramerrez was also charming and a good match for Minnie who released poignancy in their love duets, in act II, with the company of flutes and strings, even if sung with an American accent. Their voices gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling.  

Colclough’s Rance was a seedy baritone who lusted for Minnie’s body; yet what’s interesting is that although Rance plays the jealous bad cop, his character is balanced out through his reluctance to hurt Minnie, in the end, which proves he's not the token baddie after all. Other great voices included Graham Clark as Nick, Sonora by Leigh Melrose and Jake Wallace sung exquisitely by George Humphreys. Going back to the debacle on the ENO’s use of English, considering that the opera was set in the Wild West English was - perhaps - the most appropriate and ideal language to employ to The Girl of the Golden West, which was perfectly translated by Kelley Rourke. This made such an incredible difference that tops up the amazing and breathtaking score of Puccini. Well done ENO!

Click here for more details - Showing until 1st November 2014 at the ENO.
I purchased my ticket for the opera.

Anna Nicole: A Musical with Operatic Voices [FOUR STAR]**** SPOILER ALERT

By Mary Grace Nguyen

Women play a significant role in opera; world renowned characters such as Bizet’s Carmen and Verdi’s Violetta are part of the endless list of opera heroines, and despite their social ranking as gypsy girl or courtesan, their operas have been performed throughout ever since their première in the 18^th century. Yet, at first, these operas received adversary as they were considered sensational; audiences preferred mythology and tales of the classical period compared to depictions of contemporary life and today, some operagoers still favour this.

This season’s opening night at the Royal Opera House (ROH) was dedicated to students and under-25s for their second presentation of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s modern day opera of the breast pumped TV personality, Anna Nicole Smith. With rampant scenes of strip clubs, in-your-face foul language, American accents and ‘white-trash’ paraphernalia including musclemen, class-A smack, junk food and double F tits, this over indulgent opera will irrefutably raise a few eyebrows. 
Anna Nicole belongs on the stage with the great opera heroines as she too lived a desperate life. She married an oil tycoon 63 years her senior and resorted to parading her trashy lifestyle on reality TV when things didn’t go her way. After severe weight gain, the death of her son and enduring back pains caused by her silicon breasts - claimed to be the same amount of liquid contained in a bottle of wine in each breast - she died of an overdose in 2007.

In recent times, celebrity life has become a popular genre due to reality TV and Anna Nicole Smith was one of the many iconic fallen women who were sucked into the ‘American dream’ and the misguided illusions of sex and glamour. This is portrayed in Richard Jones’ bold and large stage brimming with fluorescent colours and neon lighting. Blaring trumpets and pounding percussion drums go wild as fake-breasted pole dancers open their legs to the audience. Antonio Pappano brazenly conducts the drum rolls as Anna suggestively gives her octogenarian husband a blowjob which later leads onto Anna being psychologically assaulted by six large camera heads on the Larry King Show (Peter Hoare) as if she was on Big Brother.

Director of the ROH, Kasper Holten told me just before act two ‘… it all goes down hill as operas do’, which is where the spectacular, tragic and operatic music slowly ebbs in and includes a ballad sung for the dead son, Daniel (Jason Broderick). Dutch soprano, Eva-Maria Westbroek reprised her role as Anna from its première in 2011, who had coincidently sung as the gold-digger, Manon Lescaut in Baden-Baden, which made her the ideal for the part. Westbroek's Anna was the vocal starlet which the audience abhorred and eventually pitied. Her willingness to push the boundaries, and even make hideous ‘rock out’ faces were respected much like Roy Gilfry who supported Anna as Stern, her lawyer who charmed the auditorium with his baritone timbre. 

Special mention goes out to Susan Bickley as Anna’s estranged mother who was explicit, sung ‘Fuck you’ and never failed to deliver the grittier life of Anna, whilst shaking Alan Oke as Old man Marshall brought wit and humour to this ironic tale. Andrew Rees was also impressive with his tenor vocal charisma reinforcing the need for Anna to get larger boobies as Doctor Yes.

It should be warned that Richard Thomas’ libretto might not be to everyone’s taste, yet in 200 years time who knows what people will say about it. Perhaps it is disliked because of the language usage or excessive profanities, yet we need to refer back to the deeper implications of reality TV. They succeed because the masses empathise with their celebrities and both Thomas and Turnage were undoubtedly mindful of this notion of putting a grimmer TV reality onto the operatic stage.

Turnage is a classic zig-zagger of genres, adding Latin chorus, jazz, blues, swing and moving tragic symphonies in act 2. ‘Anna, Anna, Anna Nicole’ is a memorable number and with the opera's smooth, connective storyline, one could easily view it a flamboyant musical with strong operatic voices. [To buy tickets, please go to the ROH website.]