Royal Opera

Hairy McMungo’s biggest regret as far as this opera is concerned is that Puccini did not choose to call it The Lassie of the Highlands. He feels this would have been an even more popular setting than the Golden West. (Hairy doesn’t know why the Italian word West is translated as ‘Golden West’ or indeed why it is an Italian word at all when Italian doesn’t really have a W but apart from that Hairy thinks it’s a very good opera.)

Apart from the leading roles the cast hasn’t exactly been filled with the biggest names in opera but they have been filled with some of the biggest characters. La fanciulla del West is full of miners and sometimes Hairy McMungo thinks it gets a bit much because he just can’t tell any of them apart and that annoys him. But that doesn’t happen in this production. Performers such as Quentin Hayes (Happy), Robert Murray (Harry), Graeme Danby (Billy Jackrabbit), Andrew Foster-Williams (Larkens) and particularly the great Scottish tenor Harry Nicoll (Joe) are never going to fade into the crowd. The performances are so well done and so distinctive, you can get to know some of their characters even if you can’t quite put the names to the faces.

The main characters, Minnie and Dick (Hairy hopes this time Fit Crit will manage not to laugh every time the hero’s name is mentioned. He has after all at last stopped seeing any inexplicable humour in Hairy’s name.) are performed by Eva-Maria Westbroek and José Cura. Westbrook is mostly associated with madwomen and Cura with a complete failure to do any acting but they’re not at all bad in this production. Westbrook retains her powerful stage presence and is a force to be reckoned with without being particularly murderous. Hairy McMungo would like to be positive about Cura as Cura has rather a lot of fans and they’ll all be after Hairy with pitchforks or IOU notes if he’s not careful. So Cura gave an extremely strong and sensitive performance as Dick.

Silvano Carroli is the evil Jack Rance but it is Eric Halfvarson’s impressive Ashby that gets Hairy’s attention – his roles include the Commendatore and Sparafucile and he’s probably the scariest bass in opera. As the policeman Ashby he’s no less imposing. If Halfvarson was a traffic warden Hairy would pay his fines as quickly as possible without even the smallest fuss.

There is also a fine performance from Jeremy White as José Castro, and the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme is well-represented with Vuyani Mlinde as roving minstrel Jake Wallace and Kostas Smoriginas as Bello. Also in the cast are former Young Artists Robert Murray and Hubert Francis (Trin). Hairy McMungo always likes to see the Young Artists returning. He isn’t sure if they’re cheaper than the singers who weren’t brought to prominence by the ROH but they probably are worth whatever Money the ROH pays them. Bonaventura Bottone is Nick the barman (if Hairy was called Bonaventura Bottone he wouldn’t admit to being English but if Hairy was English he wouldn’t be Hairy McMungo). Daniel Surin is a good Sonora but like almost every non-Scottish baritone he doesn’t make the character stand out as much as he could. ROH Chorus member Lee Hickenbottom is the Pony Express Rider.

But of course, the star of the show is (along with Harry Nicoll), the great Scottish mezzo-soprano Clare Shearer as Wowkle. Most of her lines aren’t even words but they are very beautifully and amusingly sung. Hairy McMungo believes Act II would be nothing without Clare, at least not until the bit where people start shooting each other.

Conductor Antonio Pappano was born in Epping of Italian descent but spent some of his childhood in America. His superior conducting skills suggest another country entirely. A very great country. Hairy is sure you know the one he means. Antonio Pappano can even make Puccini sound classy. La fanciulla del West is also funny and there isn’t any dropping dead which Hairy thinks makes a nice change. That means he can tell the story to his wee lassie Imogen and his big lassie Caledonia without having to change the ending.

HAIRY McMUNGO

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