Dear Colleagues,
For the fifth year
in a row the opera company has put on an open-air extravaganza at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, a narrow native peninsula which juts
out into Sydney Harbour just east of the opera house and in full view of the
entire city, sunset and subsequent stars (and full moon rise on cue at
7.30pm). Even mini-golf could become
interesting in such a setting (each to their own!). Dining before the opera on the artificial
parapet with the setting sun and harbour backdrop was all quite magical. The food was excellent but would not be found
in ‘Cheap-eats’.
The pontoon ‘opera’ is not real opera because it is amplified. However, one has to appreciate the spectacle,
ambiance and ‘fun
of the fair’. And there was plenty of fun in this opening
night event in addition to the opera. I
confess mixed feelings about the taking public foreshore property for this very
elite purpose …
and about the Hollywoodisation of opera.
The latter especially as we were in full view of the Opera House where
fine opera still happens from time to time, regardless of the weather.
On the Olympic sized
pontoon stage was an enormous sculpted dragon’s head on the left with stylised body and
tail across to the right behind a tall silver tower looking something like a
monster Darlek from Doctor Who. The
latter was suitably fenestrated for appearances and descent of the Ice Princess
and ascent of the lovers in the finale.
The opera opens with
a suspended Mandarin ‘town crier’ reminding
the crowds of the ancient law regarding would-be suitors of Turandot. Mr Dubinski sang like he always sings,
somewhat less than perfect. At times he
did not even seem to sing the notes Puccini carefully chose for him. David Lewis sang well as Emperor, appearing
on a broad suspended chaise with the Writ of the Riddles as his painful duty
for the beautiful princess’s betrothal.
All of the other
singers were also top-class. As slave
girl, Liu, the secondary soprano role can up-stage the title role and we were
not disappointed with either. The very
expensive glossy souvenir program does not inform us who was actually singing
since there were doubles for the major roles.
Because of early Easter the opera was performed on Thursday, Saturday,
Sunday, Tuesday, etc, keeping us guessing about the principals’ identities.
As in the opera house, there should have been a cast list at the very
least.
Ping, Pang and Pong
were perfectly cast as the chattering public servants. John Longmuir, Benjamin Rasheed and Luke
Gabbedy sang and acted their routines with style and flair. And THEY are to sing EVERY night until 24th
April according to the program (Mondays excluded).
The chorus sang and
acted brilliantly and I presume body microphones and careful mixing yielded the
satisfying auditory production, balanced with the Neptunian orchestra under
baton of underworld Maestro Brian Castles-Onion. At least they got to parade centre-stage in
the curtain calls.
Careful trawling on
the company’s
web-site finds that opening-night Turandot was performed by Serbian super-soprano Dragana
Radakovic, Liu by Hyeseoung Kwon and Calaf by Riccardo Massi. They were all incomparable in my view. This cast is to sing again on Sunday 27th
and Tuesday 29th April.
Veteran Kiwi bass Conal Coad plays blind Timur, king without a
kingdom.
‘Nessun
dorma’ is the great tenor
showpiece everyone waits for and it did not disappoint, Mr Massi singing a fine
aria and holding a long penultimate note to enormous ovation. And then fireworks were released just in case
anyone was still asleep (‘Nessun dorma’
means ‘no-one sleeps’).
After the clapping we had a reprise of several bars so the ‘through-written’ third act could continue. Puccini never intended the final word, ‘vincero’ to be sung as it is now (the first person plural
is one exception to the usual Italian rule of emphasis to be placed on the
second last vowel).
For these operas the
company uses one intermission, thus pushing acts together with a few ‘cuts’. Three
short acts as Puccini wrote would allow more mingling, more food and another
drink in two intermissions. It would
also allow the singers and orchestra two proper breaks in a very full
evening.
Tickets range from
$70 to $330 with options for supper, drinks and glossy program. There are no bad seats although I would
advise avoiding the front 4 rows. Take
binoculars if you want to see the expressions on the singers’ faces.
Written by Andrew
Byrne ..
Opera blog: http://andrewsopera.blogspot.com/
G.Rossini,
Semiramide Overture (for 8 pianos) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pdGIrOwy6s
