The Royal Gazette Bermuda
Enjoy an enthralling romp towards hell!
Licentiousness, murder and revenge – elements guaranteed to
produce a story that is irresistible. Add Mozart to the equation
and it cannot fail.
This year, the Bermuda Festival has brought the Opera a la Carte
Company from the Uk to the City Hall Theatre to perform the tale
of the wicked seducer Don Giovanni, and last night’s audience
was an enormously appreciative one. With good reason – the stage
set was minimal, but with high, weather-softened walls, thick
climbing vines and citrus trees it was a beautiful
representation of an Italian scene, while the costumes were
typically 18th century and the opera itself an entertaining romp
through this “drama giocoso,” a serious comedy, as Mozart called
it.
Opera a la Carte made extremely full use of the theatre itself –
freely entering and exiting through the main doors of the
theatre, appearing in the Mayor’s box and wandering through the
aisles. The musical accompaniment was a lone pianist, which at
first I thought would be a disappointment – I would have loved
to have heard Mozart’s orchestral score – but in the end it did
not detract from the opera at all. In fact pianist Peter Bailey
received particularly enthusiastic applause for the enormous job
that he undertook, and because he acquitted himself so well.
The story of Don Giovanni is a shocking one even today – a
licentious man whose conquests number in the thousands, and who
stops at nothing - even murder – to add to that tally.
As the opera opens, we are witnessing the endgame, as it were,
of this despicable man’s career. Colin Campbell played the role
with all the nonchalance the role requires, and imbued it with a
certain charm that makes his successes understandable.
His servant, Leporello – played by Jochem Van Ast, whose fresh
and spirited performance was a highlight last evening – tries
his best with his incorrigible master, warning the beautiful
Donna Elvira of Don Giovanni’s innumerable conquests, and then
warning his master about his behaviour and the need to start
afresh.
We meet several of Don Giovanni’s love interests as he upends
their lives and existing relationships, beginning with Donna
Anna, performed by Katri Paukkunen, whom he attempts to seduce
in the opening scenes.
Her father attempts to see off Don Giovanni, but is murdered for
his efforts. Ms Paukkunen’s pure soprano voice worked well here,
as Donna Anna struggled with her anguish and anger over her
father’s murder, and insists on revenge.
Donna Elvira, the unfaithful Don Giovanni’s lover, played by
Caroline Childe, has in contrast a warm mezzo, which was lovely
to hear, and well suited this more romantic role.
As the story progresses, Don Giovanni even stoops to seduce a
bride, Zerlina, in the midst of her preparations to marry.
Despite the overlying light and comedic nature of this opera,
there’s plenty of food for thought. During the second half, Don
Giovanni’s servant struggles with his disapproval of his
master’s behaviour and even attempts to leave him. But Leporello
succumbs to temptation twice – Don Giovanni pays him to stay on,
and then the two swap clothes, allowing Leporello to seduce
Donna Elvira while his master goes after her maid.
Thus, the conscience of the piece is guilty of precisely the
same behaviour that he himself condemns.
Ultimately Don Giovanni becomes a ghost story, with the return
of Donna Anna’s father, who appears as a spectre and ultimately
provides Don Giovanni with his reward – a descent into hell.
And so morality wins the day, and the story ends happily.
The audience was enthralled with this production – it was sung
in Italian, and a complex story line made it a challenge but
Opera a la Carte met it with aplomb, (assisted, I am sure, by
the superb synopsis in the programme) and gave a wonderfully
entertaining and memorable performance.
Rebecca Zull
2005
Irish Times
“Wayward Don wins the hearts of music lovers”
A colourful assembly gathered in a gracious garden to witness
justice being done. There were gentlemen in powdered wigs,
ladies in dramatic gowns and masks, some comic, a couple
sinister, others rather beautiful. And this was only the
audience.
Opera a la Carte's lively production of Mozart's Don Giovanni
took the stage in Loughcrew Historic Gardens, Oldcastle, Co
Meath, at the weekend. The expressive ensemble cast,
collectively celebrating in fine voice, played the subversive
masterpiece to maximum comic effect with a physical flair just
short of the Marx Brothers in full flight. No one ended up
feeling sorry for the wayward Don, and as for the wronged Donna
Elvira, sung majestically by US soprano Katie Van Kooten, she
was angry with her faithless lover but she would survive.
Even the capricious July weather decided to co-operate on
Saturday evening as the sunlight drifted gently through the
semi-transparent roof of the large tent. The opera-goers had
arrived, many for the fifth year, with sufficient amounts of
picnic supplies to sustain a minor military campaign.
In the age of convenience eating, stylish eating and impressive
attention to detail triumphed as good glassware, linen and some
of the family silver, all elegantly packed into classic picnic
baskets, emerged among the ancient Yew trees. Some parties
favoured tables; others opted for an understated rug neatly
spread upon the grass. Old world manners returned in force to a
part of Co Meath. No one was overly concerned about the
middle-aged man, who with the petulance of a teenager dragged
away from the television, demanded of his female companion: "Am
I going to be bored out of my mind? I don't know any Latin."
Smiling the smile of a practising psychiatrist, she whispered
"Relax. It's in Italian." His sulk became darker. "I don't speak
Italian."
Long before the audience began to fill the tent, the walls of
which had been vividly decorated with Michael Dillon's thematic
paintings, there was drama: a woman spilt wine on her gown. Her
friends rushed to assist her. It was as if a death was in the
making. But the dress - and the lady's evening - as well as that
of her friends - was saved. Meanwhile, Don Giovanni lurked off
stage like a giant long-haired teenager, waiting for the fun to
begin.
True the Don, played by Michael Dewis, proved a likeable cad, a
bit too much of a lad on the rampage to be taken seriously as a
ruthless serial seducer. With a disarming grin to match his
attractive baritone, this was an absent-minded, engaging
Giovanni inspired by Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow in
Pirates of the Caribbean.
More good natured than defiant, he had a good time and was well
supported by his servant, Jochem Van Ast's wonderful, suitably
rebellious Leporello. The fact that Don Giovanni actually
managed to kill the old Commendatore was quite an achievement.
As Katri Paukkunen's ethereal Donna Anna, intent on avenging her
father and her own violation, sang movingly of her dilemma,
members of the audience watched a stoic man endure as the
feathers of his companion's hat repeatedly obscured his view of
the on-stage action.
Once described by E.T.A. Hoffmann as "the opera of all operas"
and a long established favourite of sing along status, Don
Giovanni which was first performed in 1787, remains fresh. Opera
a la Carte's artistic director, Nicholas Heath was certainly
striving for the light, earthy comedy of Amadeus. The music as
always carried the evening, five musicians led by Rosalind Jones
on piano deputised for the usual orchestra.
Don Giovanni has its share of Mozart's greatest hits, especially
among the duets. As for the wrongs, well this time Don Giovanni
got off lightly. Instead of eternal damnation for his appalling
behaviour, he suffered mere humiliation and what promised to be
the messy aftermath of a lengthy binge. The delighted audience
departed, humming Mozart's tunes. The composer would have
approved.
Eileen Battersby
2004
Irish Times
‘Getting Così under canvas’
Opera in a tent? It's one of the attractions of a garden staging
of 'Così Fan Tutte' with a Raj theme, along with some promising
young singers, writes Arminta Wallace
'I feel," says Nicholas Heath, sipping his coffee and offering a
beautific smile, "that there ought to be a lot of sex in this
show." What? I mean, sex rears its head in Così Fan Tutte,
Mozart's operatic tale of couples behaving badly, but we're not
talking upfront and explicit, are we? Stuff to frighten the
horses?
Heath, the director of Opera à la Carte's "garden opera"
production, which played at Loughcrew, in Co Meath, a fortnight
ago and moves to Woodbrook House, near Enniscorthy in Co
Wexford, for two performances this weekend, looks shocked. He
is, he explains, thinking more of sexual suggestion. Hints and
allegations, surreptitious eye contact, that sort of thing.
But, he adds, he has taken the liberty of adding an extra
character to the plot. What? Meddling with Mozart? Downgrading
Da Ponte's libretto? "Heavens, no. It's a non-speaking role," he
explains hastily. "Just a little something to spice things up."
"It" turns out to be a hunky actor by the name of Ishwar Mahraj,
who shimmies in and out of the action looking good enough to
eat; a nice theatrical touch in an opera that once had the
reputation of being more than somewhat misogynistic.
It's also a reminder that although this may be Così under canvas
- and Heath is aware of the many heady attractions of garden
opera: the picnic on the lawn at the interval, the big-house
backdrop, the posh frocks, the champagne - it's vital to get the
artistic part right if the production is to succeed.
First, and most importantly, comes the casting. As a full-time
member of the chorus at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden
in London, Heath is well placed to get hold of the most
promising up-and-coming young actor-singers. For this production
they are Gudrún Ólafsdóttir, an Icelandic mezzo who has just won
the Kathleen Ferrier Song Prize at the Wigmore Hall, and Jochem
Van Ast, a Dutch baritone who has already sung all sorts, from
Rossini's Figaro at Loughcrew last year to, according to his
biography, the role of a bearded transvestite.
Next comes the staging. After a decade of putting on outdoor
opera, Heath has developed an instinct for what works best in a
sylvan setting.
"That first year at Loughcrew we did The Marriage Of Figaro," he
says. "It's a marvellous opera to start off with; it's a comedy,
and it's all about reconciliation and, of course, it's all in a
garden as well. So off we romped. And then I suggested that we
might do something darker, so we did Rigoletto. Which, of
course, is quite funny up to a point, but then it turns - the
whole thing spins - and it gets pretty violent.
"But in this sort of intimate setting the final act was
extremely powerful. A lot of people came away going, wow. They
were genuinely moved."
Last year came a "tango" Barber Of Seville, the bright and
breezy score arranged for clarinet, accordion, bassoon and
piano. "The intention is to give people a different feeling
every year. But it's about more than just words and music. You
have to make it a theatrical experience as well."
Which, on its opening night at Loughcrew, Così Fan Tutte
undoubtedly was. Members of the audience who had been a little
too liberal with the early-evening champagne must have been
startled when they entered the performance marquee to find it
rigged up as a boxing ring and the opening scene played as a
sparring match between tenor and baritone, dressed in shorts and
sleeveless vests.
Heath's setting, a British garrison in India just after the
first World War, establishes a sunny, languorous mood that
cleverly links to the outdoor-opera vibe. "I don't modernise
things for modernising's sake," he says, "but there were
uprisings in the early 1920s in India, so the idea that the boys
were stationed there and could just be called up at any minute
made sense."
He is acutely conscious that the opera demands tightly
choreographed ensemble playing. "When you get a team of people
together to put on a production you never quite know what the
chemistry is going to be. There's a big difference between how
people present themselves at audition and how they are in real
life. You know, they look beautiful for the audition, and then
they turn up for rehearsal in a smelly T-shirt.
"But this group has been on a real journey through this opera.
We've had some pretty hot discussions about how other people
view Così and how I view it - and I think it has become an
education for all of us."
For James Edwards, whose snazzy shades suggest he has never been
within a million miles of a smelly T-shirt, it has certainly
proved so. This outing as Ferrando is his first Mozart role as a
tenor, having moved up from the baritone register just two years
ago.
"It's pretty unforgiving, this music," he says ruefully. "Bohème
and La Traviata you can shout your way through, but you can't do
any shouting in this. You've got to sing it. I usually spend my
summers doing session work, which pays a lot more, but my
teacher thought this would do me good. We'll see."
In September Edwards is due to begin a two-year stint as a Vilar
artist at Covent Garden, which means he'll be paid a full-time
salary to sing small roles and understudy big ones, with free
coaching from top visiting artists such as Plácido Domingo and
Luciano Pavarotti thrown into the mix.
"Meanwhile I'm having a wonderful time here," he says. "I've
eaten tons and tons of food, and I'm staying in a castle in a
four-poster bed."
Diane Atherton, a soprano, is a regular with Opera à la Carte.
"I did Susanna in The Marriage Of Figaro and then Gilda in
Rigoletto, and then last year I had a baby," she says. She, too,
will be moving on in the autumn: she is planning to emigrate to
the US with her conductor husband, who has just been appointed
artistic director at Washington Cathedral.
"Garden opera is difficult," she says, "because it's opera in
the round - and the audience is right there, a foot away from
you. But as a young singer you have to learn to be flexible.
Otherwise, quite frankly, you'd never get any work. Very few
singers walk straight from college into the main theatres."
While we're talking a young man in a baseball cap - stage
manager Benjamin O'Grady - drifts in and out, bearing strange
offerings. A bucket of water that, to everybody's bafflement,
has sprung a leak. A handful of trainer laces. Heath regards the
latter somewhat dubiously. "Hmm. Bit pink, aren't they?"
O'Grady, who is studying stage matters in Stratford-upon-Avon,
no less, vanishes again. It is, after all, opera outdoors - and
you have to be ready for anything.
"Ah, yes," says Heath with another of his unflappable smiles.
"The generator failed last year. The boys had just climbed into
Rosina's apartment after the thunderstorm scene. I was on the
lighting board, and during the thunderstorm the lights were
flickering, and I was looking at it and thinking, what's going
on here? What have I touched?
"And then the whole thing just suddenly went ummmmm and
everything went dark except the oil lamp which the boys had on
stage. The band, naturally, stopped - although the pianist, a
répétiteur from Covent Garden who knew the score inside out
anyhow, kept on playing.
"And Jochem just looked over towards the piano and whistled a
little bit, and then started singing Some Enchanted Evening. It
brought the house down."
Aminta Wallace
2003
Irish Examiner
‘Tailor made opera brings sweet notes to a garden’
Arranging a full operatic performance can be daunting at any
time with its demands of cast, clothing, sets and crew. Add to
that the vagaries of travelling the world and it could be a task
too difficult to contemplate, let alone handle! Nicholas Heath
remains calm, however, as he plans the forthcoming visit of
Opera a la Carte to Ireland in July.
Nicholas Heath set up this touring opera company in 1993 and,
nine years later, can boast an impressive a la carte menu of
personalised operatic programmes. It all depends on the venue,
the occasion and the duration of the expected performance. Word
of mouth keeps Opera a la Carte busy and a flexible approach is
essential in order to tailor the performance to individual
needs. There's cabarets involving up to seven singers and a
piano, with offerings from La Boheme and Tales of Hoffman,
after-dinner singers concentrating on love duets, favourite
arias and serenades, or the full Grand Opera performances of
works by Verdi, Donizetti or Mozart.
Nicholas, who is both a performer and the artistic director of
this group, arranged a Garden Opera of The Marriage of Figaro at
Loughcrew Gardens, Co Meath, last year. It was a giant leap of
faith for both Opera a la Carte and the owners, Emily and
Charles Naper, who had only recently opened their gardens to the
public.
"Apart from a little contretemps with the lighting backstage and
a couple of cases of hayfever, there were no major problems,"
Nicholas relates. "We're all thrilled to be invited back by
Charlie and Emily."
"I made my opera debut as Don Ottavio with the British Youth
Opera in 1987, then I joined the Kent Opera for a while and
moved on to the Pavilion Opera." It was in 1993 that he joined
the Royal Opera and it is from this coterie of singers that
members of Opera a la Carte hail. "I found that there was a
growing need for informal evenings of opera of a high
professional standard. We're intent on developing and improving
our presentation at the venues where we perform," Nicholas
explains.
Margaret Neylon
2001
