THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
Welsh National Opera at Wales Millennium Centre ****
This production of Mozart’s crowning glory began uneasily, but developed into something of a triumph by the end of a protracted evening (we came down at 10.45 after a 7pm start).
Visually attractive, witty in its stage-direction, the presentation suffered from some decidedly erratic tempi set by conductor Kerem Hasan. From a hard-driven overture (perhaps trying to beat the egg-timing four minutes), straight into the opening act, swift speeds made articulation difficult for the singers, not least in this open, airy acoustic, and then a decidedly slow-paced Porgi Amor at the beginning of Act Two put a predictable strain upon Erika Grimaldi’s Countess which she survived impressively.
There were also ragged moments from the usually impressive WNO orchestra, and lapses in ensemble between soloists and pit, particularly in the final act.
All that set aside, this was a visually enchanting revival of Tobias Richter’s original 2016 production, with resourceful set design by Ralph Koltai. Particularly imaginative was the concluding garden scene, every character becloaked and masked, wandering in and out of the darkened sliding set, making it as difficult for us, the audience, to identify who was whom as it was for those onstage.
Previously the costumes had been a gorgeous chocolate-box of characterisation, from the glamour of the aristocrats right down to the rustic attire of the peasants. We also had an 18th-century hippie in shades with the conniving music-master Don Basilio.
Things had to recover after that bumpy start, but recover they did, with a uniformly efficient cast. Michael Mofidian was the characteristically sturdy Figaro, with Christina Gansch warming into a spirited Susanna. Giorgio Caoduro emphasised the subtly nasty side of Count Almaviva (Rossini was to characterise him far more sympathetically in the Barber of Seville), and Erika Grimaldi maintained her dignity as the Countess.
All the secondary roles were well taken, with Julian Boyce bustling the drunken gardener Antonio into a far more sympathetic character then we usually see, and as his daughter Barbarina, object of so many’s affection, Eiry Price was enchanting.
But my accolade for the show falls upon Harriet Eyley as Cherubino, the tumescent page-boy, in love with every skirt around, and given here a sparkling, lively presence in every move he made, whether as boy or disguised girl. Cherubino’s march through the auditorium in the famous “Non piu andrai” was a gift to us all.
Christopher Morley
*Birmingham Hippodrome May 8