Primi Divi

Royal Opera

4th April 2007

Cunning Little Vixen reviewed an earlier performance of this, and there’s not much I want to add because I don’t think I could put it better than she did. Didn’t like the production as much as she did, though thought there was too much water and too many arty pics. It probably al has some clever Freudian meaning, but can’t say I have loads of respect for anyone who believes in female penis envy. I prefer productions that just tell the story. If you’re sitting there feeling it’s too clever for you, they’ve done something wrong. You can enjoy musicals without knowing anything about music, opera should be the same.

Wasn’t quite sure how I felt about seeing an opera in Russian, but I don’t know why. Italian is total gibberish and French might as well be with all those extra syllables, but that doesn’t stop most operas from being enjoyable. It’s no different with Russian, it takes a bit of time to get used to the new sounds, but it doesn’t take long.

The singers were mostly as CLV said. Piotr Beczala was great as Lensky, really nice voice, good actor, much more satisfying to watch than lots of the popular singers. Ekaterina Semenchuk hit some quite shocking low notes, apparently they’re not low at all compared with a lot of singers, but they sounded very low. Not the kind of voice you’d associate with someone as girly as Olga, but you got used to it. Hans-Peter Konig went on a bit as Gremin, but that’s normal. It’s not a comic opera, but Elizabeth Sikora as Filipyevna and Robin Leggate as M. Triquet still had some funny moments.

Gerald Finley was in Vixen’s performance, but he had a throat infection. In this performance, he was fully recovered, and he was great. He has a gorgeous voice, and you really feel that he can do anything with it. Great actor too and he can ice-skate. Shouldn’t think there were many singers who can do that, and probably lots that can wouldn’t do it onstage. I saw the film Onegin starring Ralph Fiennes,but didn’t think he really nailed the character. Same with the young lad who sang the role for ETO. But Gerald Finley turned him into a really interesting character. The poor man was just flung into these social situations he didn’t understand. He could get into conversation with Tatyana at the beginning, she was quiet and undemanding at first. But declarations of love, people gossiping about him, falling in love himself and poor old Onegin doesn’t have a clue.

Tatyana was Hibla Gerzmava at this performance. She was good, nice voice, good actress. Looked really awkward onstage at times,but that was part of the character. She put a lot into the Letter Scene, but she had lots of energy and voice left at the end. Very silly girl of course, but also very nice.

Sarah Pring was Madame Larina. She’s a mezzo now, but she used to be a soprano, and she’s sung Tatyana. She was probably really good. Absolutely stunning voice. Kind of the way you’d expect the leading lady to sing, not the leading lady’s mother.

Madam Caterpillar

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