Intermezzo

How to get a head in opera

Salome - Royal Opera House, 31 May 2012

I wish I could be more positive about this revival, but in all honesty it was looking shabby even on the first night. Angela Denoke's otherwise convincing Salome sounded tired and off-pitch, not a patch on her 2010 run. Egils Silins (Jokanaan) lacked power and presence, and the Herod and Herodias of Stig Andersen and Rosalind Plowright were under-characterised. In a Rupert the horse-style coup, the terrifying (and silent) Executioner (Duncan Meadows, above) pretty much stole the show.  

Even Andris Nelsons, a generally reliable conductor of Strauss, fell short of his usual standards. The playing didn't lack energy, but it was short on detail and too often the orchestra seemed under-rehearsed. At least that's one area that might improve over the run. 

McVicar hospitalises soprano

According to the Sunday Times (£££), Aleksandra Kurzak was recently hospitalised after a Nozze di Figaro rehearsal at the Royal Opera House. David McVicar, standing in for Count Almaviva, "had pressed his charms on her a little too energetically in rehearsal, so she had fallen backwards and hit her head on the piano."

Afterwards McVicar "was hugely apologetic and bought her a lovely present".

Britain's greatest opera director pimps some product

Above, David McVicar discusses his new Adriana Lecouvreur with the Guardian. Includes a few live clips.

s3x & violets

As befits a production which will journey to San Francisco and Vienna, David McVicar's new Adriana Lecouvreur is as conservative as David Cameron holding hands with Boris Johnson in a Margaret Thatcher t-shirt. The stage-within-a-stage set is revolutionary only in the sense that it turns round, though I suppose some might regard that as innovation.  Deprived by the pesky libretto of the opportunity to slip in one of his customary orgies, McVicar's only remotely adult tableau consists of a few actresses in eighteenth century underthings. Instead he gets down to the business of telling the story with minimal fannying around.

Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House

Rigoletto - Royal Opera House, 11 October 2010

Viewing the gaudy corpse of a once-magnificent Zeffirelli production on the Met stage can make you wonder why his work was once considered bold and daring. Yet look at some of the frozen-in-youtube performances, the ones he actually, personally, directed – the famous Callas/Gobbi Tosca for example – and you sense the hand of a theatrical master. The difference between then and now of course is that then he was there to shape every detail of the performances. Over the years they’ve become debased and diluted by a series of indifferent in-house directors and all we see now are the vast, vulgar sets and the preposterous costumery.

Is David McVicar’s theatrical legacy headed the same way?

Aida reviews roll in

Opinions, everybody's got one. Here are the reviews in so far for the Royal Opera House's new David McVicar Aida:

Edward Seckerson, the Independent - "It isn’t pretty but it’s a whole lot more pertinent than the picture book inspired Cecil B. DeMille approach" 4 stars

Andrew Clements, the Guardian - "the boos for the production team at the final curtain were aimed at the wrong target" 3 stars

Richard Morrison, the Times - "although the conductor Nicola Luisotti doesn’t always obtain perfect rapport, I liked his verve and his swashbuckling speeds. It made a disappointing evening shorter" 2 stars

Barry Millington, the Evening Standard - "I haven’t seen so much bare flesh since — well, McVicar’s last production" 3 stars

William Hartston, the Express - "a splendid evening of Verdi's greatest music, complete with all the mystic rituals and human sacrifices that make up Ancient Egypt, and some brilliantly energetic choreography" 4/5

George Hall, the Stage - "it certainly packs a theatrical punch and covers the emotional and intellectual terrain of the piece with easy assurance"

Jenny Beeston, What's on Stage - "It's not always visually coherent, but you can't complain there's nothing to look at" 3 stars

Igor Toronyi-Lalic, the Arts Desk - "McVicar at his best and worst"

Dominic McHugh, musicalcriticism.com - "the lack of purpose, the ugliness of the sets and the clashes of style prevent this from becoming an ROH classic" 3 stars

Alexander Campbell, classicalsource.com - "it felt as if the energy spent on trying to do something conceptually new had resulted in a rather traditional staging but in a different setting"

Reuters - "a production which divided a packed audience on the first night late on Tuesday"

Late runners:

Andrew Clark, Financial Times - "What’s so disappointing about McVicar’s approach in this production is how old-fashioned it is; worse than that, it is tempting to feel that he has exploited Aida’s status as a box-office cert purely for his own gratification" 1 star

David Gillard, Daily Mail - "There's no denying that McVicar's staging has moments of high-octane energy and real theatrical flair, but the gloom is unremitting and the evening's finest moments are musical ones" 2 stars

And a few interviews:

Nicola Luisotti talks to What's on Stage

Micaela Carosi (Aida) talks to Opera Today

Marcelo Alvarez (Radames) talks to the Times

I understand David McVicar may be talking to Tom Service on Radio 3's Music Matters on Saturday 1 May. But it's not showing on the schedules and I can't remember who told me, so I could conceivably be making this up.

 

Aida at the Royal Opera House

Aida - Royal Opera House, 27 April 2010 (first night)

Marcelo says 'hi' to all opera bloggers

When David McVicar so rudely declined to specify the setting for his new Royal Opera House Aida a couple of weeks ago, never did I surmise that the answer sealed behind his lips was "I don't know".

But with a set that resembles the innards of a burnt-out toaster and a cast like a collection of Dr Who's worst enemies, it's anyone's guess where we're supposed to be. Where we most certainly aren't is (a passing resemblance to Cairo Airport aside) Egypt. So in that respect McVicar's succeeded in his stated aim to banish preconceptions, start anew, all the usual stuff.

What he's failed to do is establish a coherent visual aesthetic in its place. The programme indicates set designer Jean-Marc Puissant (whose ballet designs I've admired greatly) swanned off to Jerusalem and Kabul in search of inspiration. But he could have come up with the resultant dingy revolving panel simply by looking in a skip. Or indeed a Vauxhall leather club, as reader Keith kindly pointed out on an earlier post.

Royal Opera House's new Aida in pictures

When Marcelo Alvarez, the Radames of David McVicar's new Covent Garden Aida, described the production to the Times as "a little like Stargate," we thought he was nuts; when he said opera blogs were "the real cancer of our opera world," our suspicions were confirmed.

Yet it transpires the corpulent loudmouth was right all along. It is indeed a little like Stargate. And a little like Lord of the Rings, a little like Mad Max, a little like Dr Who and a little like just about every shoot-em-up game you've ever played.

Here is the pictorial evidence; words and more photos to follow later.

David McVicar shows Prince Charles some bewbs

Normally the Royal Box is populated by the Royal Opera House's dearest and closest and deepest-pocketed friends.

But for tonight's Aida gala opening the elaborate drapes and garlands hanging beneath it evidenced that HM the rightful owner had commandeered it for her first-born and his hobbling, stick-borne wife, clad in a glamorous silvery sequinned outfit that made her resemble a salmon on crutches.

Now Prince Charles is not known to be an opera buff, and he probably thought like most people that Aida is something to do with elephants and bellowing fat ladies, distinguishable from each other only by the amount of noise they're making.

Topless dancers enacting mass human sacrifice to propitiate the gods probably didn't enter his preconceptions, but then I doubt if he's seen a David McVicar production before.

*****   photos on next page   *****

Ouch! McVicar bites!

“You talking to me?”

Those were the *actual words* *actually spoken* by David McVicar in response to a dim-witted but harmless question from an audience member at the Royal Opera House last night.

Royal Opera House Summer Season 2010

And so 2009/10 draws to a close with the usual tourist-friendly summer fare from the Royal Opera House.

The highlight (especially since he had to cancel Tamerlano) is Plácido Domingo's appearance in and as Simon Boccanegra (29 June to 15 July). We've all found out by now that he's not exactly a perfect fit - but then these days, who is? And it might be his last appearance at Covent Garden. And WTF he's Plácido Domingo. That's enough to make it essential. A cast that includes Marina Poplavskaya, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Joseph Calleja with Maestro Pappano himself conducting should compensate for Elijah Moshinsky's tired production.

Running it close is a new Laurent Pelly production of Massenet's Manon (22 June to 2 July) with Anna Netrebko in the title role. Pappano conducts again, and gorgeous Vittorio Grigolo makes his Covent Garden debut.

David McVicar's slightly fussy but intelligent Le Nozze di Figaro (31 May to 17 June) makes a swift return, with Erwin Schrott and a delightful springer spaniel vying for the cuteness award. As if that's not enough, Sir Colin Davis conducts most dates, making it a must-see.

Another McVicar, Salome (3 July to 16 July), has its first revival, with Angela Denoke in the title role and Hartmut Haenchen conducting. "Contains scenes of nudity and violence" - but not where you'd think.

Angela Gheorghiu lovers will be flocking to La Traviata (8 July to 17 July), though it may be James Valenti and Zeljko Lucic who make it worth seeing. Richard Eyre's production is a fine and thoughtful one, though anyone who catches it in May with Ermonela Jaho doesn't really need to see it again.

A swift resuscitation of Francesca Zambello's godawful Carmen (5 June to 26 June) has little to recommend it this time round apart from perhaps Christine Rice in the title role.

In the Linbury Studio, George Benjamin's Into the Little Hill (23 July to 26 July), here coupled with Berio's Recital I, comes highly recommended.

The Bolshoi visit in August, with a critically-acclaimed production of Eugene Onegin the only opera amidst endless nights of ballet (which to be honest, is probably a safer bet).

Friends' booking opens on 3 March and general booking on 6 April.

David McVicar bigs himself up

 
photo: John Lawrence

"I am good at what I do because I care so terribly much, and I do put so much into it, so much energy and so much love".

Having scared off all the proper music critics ("public school idiots") opera's least unassuming director David McVicar explains the secret of his success to "a woman who still has no idea what happens in Cosi fan tutte, even though she's seen it several times", the Independent's Christina Patterson.

She fixates, bizarrely, on his arms: "the kind of arms that have you thinking of Glasgow shipyards, or perhaps gay nightclubs". But, in case you're wondering, "not the kind of arms that have you thinking of arias" or "the kind of arms that have you thinking of Handel, or castrati, or a Cleopatra played with Bollywood wit, or magic flutes, or consumptive courtesans dying in attics".

I am more impressed by the leg-biting scowls of his squat, hairy but strangely adorable twin doggies. Some people really do look like their pets.

Royal Opera House 2009/10 season - all the details

Here first! - a full list of all the Royal Opera House's main stage productions for the 2009/10 season.

The 2009/10 Covent Garden season opens with neither bang nor whimper but with a credit-crunching concert performance on 7 September (repeated on 14 September). Makes a change from last year's Sun readers' special I suppose.

The opera in question is Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix, and the conductor is bel canto genius Mark Elder. The cast includes potential Next Big Things Stephen Costello, Eglise Gutierrez and Luciano Botelho, plus the incomparable Alessandro Corbelli, the first of several welcome appearances this season.

The first staged opera of the season is Nicholas Hytner's lego-loving Don Carlo, with - OMG!- Jonas Kaufmann !!! in the title role. John Tomlinson joins him as the Grand Inquisitor, and the rest of the cast is lifted straight from the first run - Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, fans' favourite Ferruccio Furlanetto, Sonia Ganassi and Pumeza Matshikiza.The conductor is Semyon Bychkov.

This season's contribution to the 2013 Wagnerversary is a new Christof Loy production of Tristan und Isolde. Antonio Pappano conducts Ben Heppner, Nina Stemme, Matti Salminen, Michael Volle and Sophie Koch.

Neigh! Francesco Zambello's ghastly Carmen returns in October, with the latest Covent Garden favourite Elina Garanca back for the title role, fighting off Roberto Alagna, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, and a farmyard full of furry friends. Bertrand de Billy conducts. It's resuscitated again in June 2010 with a distinctly 'B' cast.

October also sees one of Richard Jones's more subtle and effective efforts back on stage - and attractively cast. The shouldn't-work-but-it-does double bill of Ravel's L'Heure Espagnole (Christine Rice, Yann Beuron, Christopher Maltman, Andrew Shore and Bonaventura Bottone) and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (Thomas Allen, Maria Bengtsson and Stephen Costello) is conducted by Pappano.

Francesco Zambello steps into Tchaikovsky's The Slippers in November. The new production will be conducted by Alexander Polianichko and features some serious talent fresh from the Mariinsky - Olga Guryakova, Vsevolod Grivnov, Larissa Diadkova, Vladimir Matorin and Maxim Mikhailov.

John Schlesinger's elderly Der Rosenkavalier is dusted off in December. Kirill Petrenko conducts and the cast includes Soile Isokoski, Sophie Koch, Thomas Allen and Lucy Crowe.

Littering the December and January schedules is the inevitable La Bohème. This time Andris Nelsons conducts most of the double-cast performances, which begin with Piotr Beczala and Hibla Gerzmava and end with not a few tbc's.

Robert Lepage's intermittently effective Rake's Progress returns in January 2010. Ingo Metzmacher, Toby Spence (a Tom Rakewell tdf), Kate Royal, Kyle Ketelsen and Stephanie Blythe promise much on the musical side.

Female conductor alert! Top Lisboan Julia Jones wields the baton over Jonathan Miller's Cosi fan Tutte in January. The cast includes Charles Castronovo and Sally Matthews.

A new Richard Jones production of Prokofiev's The Gambler in February is conducted by Pappano, with a cast including Roberto Sacca, Angela Denoke, John Tomlinson and Jurgita Adamonyte.

Plácido Domingo's first appearance of the season is as a tenor. Graham Vick's acclaimed production of Handel's Tamerlano (recorded in Madrid and available on DVD con Plácido) makes its first visit to Covent Garden in March with Christianne Stoijn, Sara Mingardo and Christine Schäfer. Baroque specialist Ivor Bolton conducts.

Bill Bryden's family-friendly The Cunning Little Vixen returns in March with Emma Matthews, Christopher Maltman and Emma Bell, though the presence of Charles Mackerras on the podium has to be the main draw.

Caurier and Leiser's lovely Il Turco in Italia is back in April, with Maurizio Benini conducting, and Aleksandra Kursak, Colin Lee, Alessandro Corbelli, Thomas Allen and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in the cast.

Aida is subjected to the David McVicar magic in April. His new production is conducted by Nicola Luisotti and features Micaela Carosi, Marcelo Alvarez and Luciana D'Intino. Bare naked elephants?

The last of the Big Three, Richard Eyre's subtly intelligent La Traviata, makes its annual appearance in May and July. This time her name's in the programme - Our first Lady of the Camellias is the fabulous former Netrebko sub Ermonela Jaho. Joining her in her long-awaited return to Covent Garden in May are Saimir Pirgu and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. July's 'B' Violetta is Angela Gheorghiu, who makes do with James Valenti and Zeljko Lucic. Yves Abel conducts.

Laurent Pelly's now-legendary La Fille du Régiment returns in May with the unbeatable original cast of Juan Diego Flórez, Natalie Dessay, Alessandro Corbelli and Felicity Palmer back in place. Bruno Campanella conducts.

What would tempt Sir Colin Davis back into the pit? How about David McVicar's Le Nozze di Figaro? Erwin Schrott, Camilla Tilling, Maruisz Kwiecen. Annette Dasch, Soile Isokoski and Christine Schäfer head the strong cast.

Antonio Pappano conducts Laurent Pelly's new Manon, coming to Covent Garden in June with the announced cast including Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. Anyone fancy a bet?

In one of those rare operatic fairy stories, June sees a baritone with less than a year's experience thrust into a leading role at Covent Garden. Yes, it's Plácido Domingo again, and this time he's Simon Boccanegra. Antonio Pappano conducts a strong cast including Marina Poplavskaya, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Joseph Calleja. It's the 1991 Elijah Moshinsky production by the way, not the Ian Judge one seen last year.

The season ends in July 2010 with the first revival of David McVicar's controversial Salome. Angela Denoke takes the central role, with Johan Reuter as Jokanaan. Hartmut Haenchen conducts.

No link yet, but more details expected on the Royal Opera House website sometime next week.

****************

*******UPDATE 22/4*******

The Royal Opera House's press releases are now available on their website. Go here for the summary, here for the opera details and here for the ballet.

Rigoletto humps again at the Royal Opera House

Rigoletto - Royal Opera House, 10 February 2009

No wonder David McVicar likes to direct his own revivals. When it's left to someone else, as it was here, you can see just what McVicar adds.  He turns mere singers into McKellens and Denchs, titans of the stage, living, breathing characters. Subtract that and what's left is stylish but conservative window-dressing, Zeffirelli with t1ts. Everyone in this Rigoletto stood in the correct place and pointed in the right direction. But blank what-do-I-do-next faces and stock gestures don't make for compelling drama.

Conductor Daniel Oren's turgid pacing didn't help. In a few places, like the final act's storm scene, the music really came alive. The rest was ponderous and drab, sucking the life out of this most vital of operas drip by drip.

There were at least a few decent individual performances, though none of them came in the bewb'n'botty-splattered first scene. Perhaps they were distracted by the bared flesh wobbling away in all directions. At any rate, only the ever-dependable Iain Paterson as Monterone could summon up a creditable performance.  Francesco Meli yelped like the understudy of an understudy; Leo Nucci simply shouted his way through. Car-crash stuff.

But something must have happened in the two long minutes it took the huge revolving set to squeak its castle wall side around 180' and display the humble shack hidden behind. When they came back Francesco Meli displayed a firm metallic light tenor, like a sort of heavyweight JDF. the sound is thrilling, even if not every note's quite on target. But he was no master of the court, let alone a rampant testosterone-fuelled predator - more like the Duke's kid brother in fact. It's not easy to be secksy in striped pantaloons but better direction might have lent him some authority. Or he could just watch Kurt Rydl, whose Sparafucile was positively scary.

Leo Nucci was - well - Leo Nucci. Maybe no longer the finest Verdi baritone around in terms of strictly technical beauty. The voice is rubbed bare in rather too many patches for that. But full of colour and character, and still able to sustain a melting legato.

For a soprano with Olympia on her resume, Ekaterina Siurina's top notes were surprisingly tentative, and once or twice craftily dodged altogether. But she has a naturally beautiful, silvery tone (and the most unbelievable Slavic cheekbones) and her Gilda was sweet and affecting. Probably the best performance of the night, certainly the most consistent.

There was plenty of enthusiastic ovating, some of it over the top of the music, but more of the glitter drops off this production each time it's aired. It's obviously tempting for Covent Garden to bring back its guaranteed bankers time after time, but they need more care the older they get, not less.

   

     

What's on in London in February

David McVicar brings his chipolata-stuffed Rigoletto back to the Royal Opera House on 10 February.  Star-power is limited to veterans Leo Nucci and Paolo Gavanelli sharing the title role but this is Verdi at his most unbreakable so that's all it needs. We wait eagerly to see what Francesco Meli and Ekaterina Siurina can make of the Duke and Gilda. More Ekaterina in recital at St John's Smith Square on 20 February.

George Benjamin's highly-praised shortie Into the Little Hill gets its long-awaited London premiere in the Linbury Studio on 14 February. It's coupled with Birtwistle's Down by the Greenwood Side. Still no casting details on the ROH site, whatever that means.

But the major event of the month at Covent Garden is the premiere of Tim Albery's new production of Der fliegende Holländer on 23 February with Bryn 'teh Chin' Terfel as the Dutchman.

At ENO, Jonathan Miller's new La Bohème opens tomorrow. And you are duly warned that John Adams's irredeemably dim-witted Dr Atomic, which I saw in New York last autumn (well the first half anyway: I walked out at the interval) arrives on 25 February. On the plus side, it has a far better production and cast than the material deserves.

Opera Holland Park slip through the park gates and catch the 391 to Richmond Theatre where from 24 February the simple country folk can enjoy their brilliant Tosca from last summer. There are two casts - Amanda Echalaz, the best Tosca in town, sings on 25 and 27 February and 1 March.

The Barbican presents Handel's oratorio Samson on 12 February, for which The Sixteen are joined by a terrific line of of soloists including Mark Padmore, Gillian Keith, Catherine Wyn-Rogers and Roderick Williams. And on 22 and 23 February, the LSO record Berlioz's Te Deum with Sir Colin Davis

Wigmore Hall's bargain-priced 4 o'clock Sunday song recitals continue with two artists on the brink of major careers - Jacques Imbrailo on 15 February and Lucy Crowe on 22 February.

On 21 February Gustavo Dudamel makes an eagerly-awaited return to London, where he conducts the Philharmonia in Mahler's 5th at the Royal Festival Hall.

And at the same place tomorrow night, 4 February Matthias Goerne joins Neeme Jarvi and the LPO for Mahler's Kindertotenlieder coupled with a purist-agitating rarity - Mahler's arrangement of Beethoven's 9th. There's a free talk at 6.15 for anyone who's interested in the background to this fascinating molestation. The photo below shows Mahler conducting Beethoven's 9th in Strasbourg in 1905.

David McVicar's Great Tarts of History - for Scottish eyes only

 

David "I loathe Traviata" McVicar, interviewed in today's Scotsman, judiciously backpedals on the eve of unveiling his new production of, er, Traviata for Scottish Opera.

Concerned that "It is perfectly possible to see a production of La Traviata where the audience have absolutely no idea what the story is about", he's aiming for a more explicit portrayal of its demi-monde setting. So he's made a study of the story's inspiration, Alphonsine Duplessis, and legendary 19th century courtesans like Cora Pearl and La Paiva.

Only Northern Britain merits this meticulousness though:  "I would never have accepted at a big American house or Covent Garden because you just wouldn't get the cast to rehearse. They would just turn up with so many preconceptions." Oops?

Don't mess with McV

“I am an authoritarian figure and I do frighten people,” David McVicar tells the Times. “I don't bark, I don't shout, but I know I can scare people I'm not saying I use that as a tool but I know people are nervous.”

And he's not exactly hanging out for an invitation from Milan either: “La Scala does not do top-notch. You may see the most expensive singers in the world, but actually that performance has been turned around in three days, whereas a Scottish Opera performance is done with time spent on it, with commitment and intelligence and company spirit."

More modest admissions and discreetly ventured opinions here.

More polish than sparkle in Covent Garden's Figaro

Le Nozze di Figaro - Royal Opera House, 2 July 2008

I usually prefer to go to shows on opening night. On the downside, there may be little problems that will get ironed out later on, and first night nerves may mean singers aren't at their technical best. But the Royal Opera House generally allocates enough rehearsal time to make 'settling down' redundant.

The real difference between the first show and the later ones is that performers are always conscious of walking a tightrope between triumph and failure, and the fear of tanking it first time round can introduce a frisson that may not be recaptured in later shows. Anyone who's seen the difference between a final rehearsal and the opening show will know exactly what I mean.

This night was mid-run, and although every aspect of the performance ran as slick as greased owl pewp, there was an indefinable lack of sparkle. That's not to say it it was in any way flawed or disappointing, just easier to admire than to love.

As far as individual performances went, it was yet another occasion this season that the bus pass brigade have snaffled the performing honours from the hot young thangs. Tonight it was Robin Leggate's deliciously camp Don Basilio, Robert Lloyd's gravely comic Bartolo and Ann Murray's feisty Marcellina who made the most impact.

Kishani Jayasinghe's spirited Barbarina could have been up there with them and further, but her otherwise lusciously creamy voice developed a scratchy cast towards the end. Nothing more than a touch of tiredness I hope - not only does she perk up every production I've seen her in, however small her part, she also has the makings of a truly memorable voice.

The big revelation was Anna Bonitatibus. She's already shown her versatility recently in London in the poles-apart roles of Zerlina at the Barbican and the low-mezzo Medoro in Handel's Orlando at the ROH. And here she made an utterly convincing Cherubino, all knock knees and unmet eyes. Her crystalline vibrato-free tone was convincingly boyish, definitively Mozartian, and her Voi che sapete was the moment of the night.

She outshone Aleksandra Kurzak's sparky Susanna and Barbara Frittoli's dignified Countess, even though they were perfectly judged, and evenly enough matched for the element of conspiratorial sisterhood to ring true.

I warmed more to Peter Mattei's baffled and put-upon Count than Ildebrando D'Arcangelo's manipulative Figaro, despite D'Arcangelo's dense velvety ear-caressing tone. That's partly a function of David McVicar's subtly dark production, which plays with the audience's sympathies in a rather more even-handed way than usual.

Superficially, it's conventional enough for the fustiest of audiences, with its period look and very literal adherence to text. Although it doesn't skip any of the comedy (all of which is genuinely funny here, not remotely teeth-gritting), he doesn't shy from exposing the self interest of the protagonists at every moment either, and the undercurrent of rumbling discontent, the lower orders rattling the bars of their cage, is more than usually apparent. 

Talking of bars, I was seriously impressed that certain thirsty orchestra members managed to survive the 90 minute second half without a rest break after their copious interval refreshments at the White Lion. But then again, perhaps it contributed to the relaxed, unhurried sound Charles Mackerras drew from them. Despite his unrelentingly furious pace, there was wit and charm in abundance, and the finely-nuanced response of the orchestra does them great credit.

It says a lot for production standards that the only blemished performance was canine. The Count's 'hunting dog' (though he looked more like a slipper-chewer to me) entered tail-first, tugged at the leash for his minute on stage, and danced a circle of joy the second he was released back.

I do love animals, especially with gravy, but as ever if [insert composer] had really wanted a [insert species] in [insert opera], don't you think he would have written a part for one?

 

 

Fresh meat for Salome return to Royal Opera House in 2010

Looks like it's official.

From conductor Hartmut Haenchen's website: Salome is to return on 3 July 2010, with Angela Denoke in the title role.

No other cast news yet - so, Covent Garden buskers, get in a queue for David McVicar now.

Busking hunk gets his kit off for David McVicar

Tomorrow's Sunday Times reveals that the most eyepopping moment in the Royal Opera House's current production of Salome is provided by a Covent Garden busker.

In the opera, hunkular Duncan Meadows plays the silent role of the executioner who, naked and dripping with blood, presents Salome with the head of John the Baptist.

IRL he's more likely to be found coated in silver paint and surrounded by gawping tourists in James Street for his regular gig as a human statue - which is where Salome director David McVicar spotted him.

What is perhaps more surprising than McVicar's unusual casting method is the fact that, according to the Sunday Times, Meadows earns £300 a week at the Royal Opera House (that's around £100 for each 100 minute show - not bad going), but a massive ***£400*** a day for the statue act. That should keep him in raw steak and Kryolan for while.