Primi Divi

Royal Opera

1st July 2008

This was a weird one! To start with, I thought it was going to be a comedy like Der Rosenkavalier. Definitely an opera of two halves. Did I like it? Can’t make up my mind!

The first half was set backstage in the home or an art patron. They’d arranged for two celebratory performances, an opera and a singing/dancing performance by a comedy troupe. First they argue about what is going to be performed first, then they decided there’s no time for both, so both will be performed at the same time.

I didn’t know the story, and I thought it was a great idea, but it turned out the second act wasn’t very funny at all. The comedy troupe had their moments, but Ariadne spent the whole time being miserable. Apparently, Theseus has dumped her. This is the same Ariadne and Theseus who met in The Minotaur, but other people think it’s Bluebeard who dumped her, there’s also a French opera together called Ariadne and Bluebeard which Barry thinks he might have seen many years ago. Then in this one she ends up with Bacchus. It’s quite confusing.

The sets were interesting. Fit Crit was especially excited about seeing the second-act set because he’s only seen this production once but the first set got stuck, so in the end they had to perform the second act on the first act set, which must have been very interesting. The interval was extra-long even though it was 40 minutes to start with. Can’t help thinking the second half was probably more effective with all that dark blue lighting.

There were lots of good things in the first half. Loved Thomas Allen as the Music Master. Hairy says he’s so good, he’s practically Scottish, and I think he has a point. He’s just very funny with lots of energy. Shame he was only in the first half. Then there was Christoph Quest as the Major-Domo. The opera is mostly all sung, but the Major-Domo is a spoken role. I don’t know why Strauss decided to do this, but it didn’t seem strange. His speaking was very rhythmic and it followed the style of the music.

Really enjoyed the comedy troupe, especially in the first half. Gillian Keith was a very pretty Zerbinetta – amazing singer with lots of high notes to sing. She also had to take her top off, but she really seemed to be enjoying herself right through the opera. Also really liked the men – Markus Werba as Harlequin, Jeremy White as Truffaldino, Ji-Min Park as Scaramuccio and Haoyin Xue as Brighella. One of them was wearing a kilt, but I’m not sure which one. He had good legs though. They were all really funny, and made a great addition to the first act. It was quite strange having them in the second act as well, and to be honest they were the best thing in the second act.

There was a bit of controversy the last time Ariadne was performed at the ROH. Apparently, Deborah Voigt was supposed to sing Ariadne, but she was sacked because she didn’t fit into the little black dress. No idea if this is true or not, but it makes a good story. Deborah Voigt did sing at this performance, but the story goes she was cast after she’d had a stomach-stapling operation. Poor girl, operas are famous for their large sopranos but the truth is opera people seem to be as shallow as everyone else. Pathetic really. I thought Deborah Voigt looked pretty good in the dress. She’s voluptuous, but far from unattractive. Violetta says she looks better than the other Ariadnes in the dress, and I’m happy to take her word for it. Wish I could say her singing was great too, but I thought it was a bit hard and shrill.

Robert Dean Smith sang the role of the Tenor in the first act and Bacchus in the second act. He was very funny as the Tenor, but Bacchus didn’t really do it for me. Don’t really know what he sees in a misery-guts like Ariadne either. Maybe the problem is I just don’t understand the music. Kristine Jepson who sang the Composer was another shrill one but Anita Watson, Sarah Castle and Anna Leese as Naiad, Dryad and Echo sounded good. But maybe the problem with an opera with two such different styles is that if you love the first act, you might not love the second act as much.

Madam Caterpillar

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