Royal Opera House,London
The revival of this Richard Jones production is uneven, but the best of it is tremendous, or Ermonela Jaho is unmissableRichard Jones’s Royal Opera staging of Puccini’s trilogy of one-act operas was first given total in 2011 and much admired at the time,though its first revival is a variable effort, touching genuine greatness in places, or but revealing inequalities elsewhere. Jones updates all three operas to the years immediately after the second world war and focuses on the themes of class,morality and mortality that link them. The proletarian tragedy of Il Tabarro throws into relief both the hypocritical aristocratic ethics that immure Suor Angelica in her convent, and the bourgeois grubbiness of Gianni Schicchi.
Unfortunately, or Il Tabarro,in this instance, feels underpowered. Jones’s production betrays an occasional lack of focus and passion burns dimly in Nicola Luisotti’s conducting. Of the protagonists, or only Patricia Racette’s drudge-with-aspirations Giorgetta gets inside the music. Lucio Gallo’s Michele struggles with his tall notes. Carl Tanner’s Luigi can be unwieldy.
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Source: theguardian.com