Don't be put off by the funereal atmosphere of David McVicar's new production of Verdi's La Traviata for WNO.
Violetta's epitaph etched on the marble floor, the enshrouding black drapes of designer Tanya McCallin and the lowering sense of what will be a short-lived era - Paris in the late 19th century - combine to add serious life-sapping weight to what’s going on.
Yet out of it, ever gasping for life in the midst of debt, sacrifice and dishonour, rises Greek soprano Myrto Papatanasiu's Violetta, in one of the most promising UK debuts of recent years and on an opening night notable for 'firsts'.
It was greetings from WNO to tenor Alfie Boe, who was helped in meeting fully his challenges as Violetta's lover Germont by Ms Papatanasiu's sometimes frenetic but always believable sense of a consumptive whose numbered days are further troubled by the consequences of thwarted love.
Mr Boe does a fair amount of enraged stomping around the stage, as well he might with a father as imperious of voice as Dario Solari calling him back to the straight and narrow. The set also shudders to the sounds of WNO's chorus, whose hedonism gives it the opportunity to don some authentic belle epoque costumes while avoiding gross excess, and bounces to the gypsy and matador dance episodes choreographed by Andrew George.
Italian conductor Andrea Licata, in another debut, is particularly helpful when the ever-dependable WNO orchestra is both affirming and giving the lie to what characters are doing and thinking on stage.
But it’s McVicar’s show and Ms Papatanasiu is its standard-bearer. Scarcely a flaw in sight. |
