Ichiban with the news

The Royal Opera House are to tour Japan in September 2015.  This time round there's no chance of the diva drop-outs that depleted previous tour casts - only singers with a proven ability to perform with broken hands, legs, etc get a place.

Two productions are scheduled. One is Phyllida Lloyd's Macbeth featuring Simon Keenlyside and Liudmyla Monastyrska. The other is the new production of Don Giovanni directed by Kasper Holten, featuring Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Rolando Villazon, Joyce DiDonato and Alex Esposito.

The Japanese promoter's page features the above costume sketches from the yet-to-be-seen Don Giovanni. Mad bunny ears or dead pigeons? This is only the start.

Thanks to Kyoko for translations and for spotting the details in the first place.

Comments

[SJT]

So it's set in what looks very much like late Victorian England. Don't tell me. It's going to be Giovanni the Ripper....

[Justin Chapman]

I remember seeing Ruth Berghaus' staging of 'Don Giovanni' for WNO in the '80s, and when Anna, Elvira, and Ottavio appeared at DG's party at the end of Act One, they were all dressed as birds of prey - with plumes of feathers. I hated it back then, but compared to almost all the other stagings I've seen since, in hindsight it was a work of genius.

[manou]

Looking at the hats, I wonder whether Kasper Holten has read this:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/05/spectacle-sickened-me.html

[Nik]

Villazon as Don Ottavio? Do you consider that a safe casting?
*********
Intermezzo replies - Why ever not?

[Nik]

You're right. I can't think why.

[Roy]

Does this mean the first revival will have this Don G cast - JDD and RF, yes please. Better than the first run ?
***********
Intermezzo replies - I assume the ROH will want the Japan cast to have some experience of the production before the tour, so it's likely there will be a revival in 2014-2015 with most of them included.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Hmmm - Villazon as Ottavio in London in 2015? I'll believe it when I see it....Did anyone see/hear his Lucio Silla in Salzburg?

[SJT]

Maybe that's why all these houses are surreptitiously investing in "performance enhancement" electronics...

[Tenorfach]

Here is what ROH posted on casting for Don Giovanni, thankfully no sight of Villazon (so far)

Don Giovanni NEW
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dir: Kasper Holten
Cond: Nicola Luisotti

Director of Opera Kasper Holten presents a new production of Mozart’s sublime tragicomedy.
********
Intermezzo replies - That's the '13/14 casting. If Villazon appears, it's likely to be in a '14/15 revival.

Cast:

Don Giovanni – Mariusz Kwiecien
Leporello – Alex Esposito
Donna Anna – Malin Byström
Donna Elvira – Véronique Gens
Don Ottavio – Antonio Poli
Zerlina – Elizabeth Watts
Masetto – Dawid Kimberg
Commendatore – Alexander Tsymbalyuk
Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

1 | 3 | 12† | 14 | 18 | 21 | 24 February
†Live cinema relay

Tenorfach

[Tenorfach]

Well, that would mean opening 2014/15 season at ROH with Don G before taking it on tour to Japan. For what it is worth, I think that is unlikely. More likely is that the Don G production is promised to a German house somewhere (Bayerische Staatsoper Summer Festival?) and then going to Japan. But guess we shall know soon enough - bound to be questions at the "Insight" for Don G and Mr Holten is quite often very frank with such information.

Tenorfach

[inter mezzo]

As the tour is not until September 2015, the revival could be any time in the 2014-15 season. But it is in fact currently scheduled for September 2014.

[Tenorfach]

My mistake - sorry. It would be the 2015/16 season at ROH, still unlikely in mvho.
**********
Intermezzo replies - It won't be revived in the 2015-16 season prior to the Japan tour, firstly because that's logistically impossible, and secondly because there's no need if it's being revived in 2014-15 with members of the Japan cast.

[Tenorfach]

Now speaking of ROH, I find it infinite more interesting that "Tell" is seemingly due to be produced at ROH in the 2014/15 or 2015/16 season ........... with Barry Banks, no less! At least according to rumours escaping through the ever widening cracks at the ROH.

Tenorfach

[John]

Barry Banks? That doesn't sound very likely.

[Tenorfach]

I know, I did a double take but the info I get from that source is usually reliable.

[SJT]

Now all they need to do is find a Mathilde who's about 4'6'' and all will go swimmingly...

This thing is BIG. It's going to be filmed and HD'd live worldwide. BARRY BANKS!?! Someone is pulling a part of your anatomy, trust me. The only thing the ROH will be agonising over is how to dump the dread John Osborn now that the sooty-lashed one's taking the role on.

[John]

Barry Banks is singing Arnold for Welsh National Opera in a forthcoming season. Was John Osborn ever confirmed to be appearing in at Covent Garden? I know he was in the recording - I'm personally more bothered by Malin Bystrom who is very competent but also pretty dull on the cd. The management seem like her, though, and if Poplavskaya pulls out of Vepres I wouldn't be surprised to see her pulled in - she's sung the role before.

[SJT]

Yes, I knew that La Banks was up for WNO, which is yet another reason for discounting the possibility he'll ever get to do so in Bow St. where they like their stars exclusive, at least domestically.

NOTHING about the Tell has ever been confirmed, not even the fact that they're doing it. But they are, and it was the Proms cast that was on the books for it. However, JDF's little Robert le diable in reverse - Yes I will: No I won't - has altered the complexion of matters, I imagine.

[regkarpf]

Barry Banks as Ruodi, the fisherman might do. I am just back from a magnificently cast Tell in Pesaro, Nicola Alaimo as Tell, JDF as Arnold and Marina Rebeka as Mathilde - not to be judged from the recent Italian radio broadcast which distorted everything. They could import the Pesaro cast including the superb Mariotti conducting into the ROH and do very well with it.

[SJT]

What's the staging like? They've been known to import those from Pesaro too.....

[John]

There might not have been an official press statement, but both Kasper Holten and Tony Pappano have confirmed that they are doing Tell - look back at an old Intermezzo post about a radio interview Pappano did in which he mentioned several forthcoming stagings, including William Tell, Cav and Pag, Manon Lescaut and King Roger. Transplant the Pesaro cast and I'd be happy!

[regkarpf]

It was a new production by Graham Vick, made for the vast stage of the Adriatic Arena. There are photos around on the web. Being Vick, it's rather political (Marxist) and it updates the action to (I think) the 19th century. But it does respect the libretto and makes sense. I saw it twice, and liked it better the second time around. The productions of Rossini's Otello and Matilde to Shabran that the ROH imported from Pesaro were made originally for the much smaller Teatro Rossini. This one would have to be scaled down to fit the ROH stage. There will be a DVD out in about a year.

[SJT]

O Lord! A co-pro with Turin, I notice.

Does anyone actually walk all the way up that red staircase? Mio Dio!

Can't say that grandpa combs and braces do much for the sooty-lashed one either, though Mathilde and matching horse/hat combination look nice...

And seeing the casting of the likes of Celso Albelo as Ruodi does, I think, give us a fair clue as to level of Barry Banks' involvement with this work in Bow St.