BY MARK BOSCH, LEAD CRITIC
Werther
Opera Australia
Sydney Opera House, 22 February
At this rate, I’ll have seen 12 operas beginning with the letter W by year’s end. And just as it was with Wozzeck in January, this month’s Werther is another simmering exhibition of local and international talent; from Elijah Moshinsky reprising his 1997 directorial role, to the Opera Australia Children’s Chorus enjoying plenty of exposure, and American Michael Fabiano and Russian Elena Maximova heading a great cast of a would-be French bourgeoisie.
There’s so much to enjoy here, and as I sit by the window on a sunny morning recalling it, I feel a bit like Sophie (sung by Stacey Alleaume) in her aria Du gai soleil, plein de flamme, delighting in the splendour of the azure sky as she tries to cheer up the heartbroken title character. Hers is one of several memorable staples from Werther, along with Ô nature, pleine de grâce and Pourquoi me réveiller – the latter sung by Werther and Sophie’s older sister Charlotte, Werther’s love interest (though ‘interest’ is a huge understatement). Despite the dearth of character development in the libretto to explain Werther’s ridiculously sentimental personality, I was nonetheless swept up in the hurricane of soaring fourths and sixths handled with such electrifying desperation by Fabiano and Maximova. As the applause burst forth following their duet, I couldn’t help but cheer and shout from the gallery. If Australia’s opera-going culture was a bit more like, say, Italy’s, I would have had many more well-warranted opportunities to do so throughout the production. I’m grateful for the opportunity to sublimate those would-be cheers into coherent sentences here, anyhow.
One thing that deserves a cheer is the littlest detail of Werther’s notebook: disconsolate poet that Wether is, he left it on the settee long after he departed Charlotte’s father’s estate, in full view as the latter’s family dines. It’s a grave relic of the man that eats away at any sense of familial contentment that might have been left from the opera’s summery, resplendent first act. Michael Yeargan’s sterile set design is a similar achievement. The Opera Australia Children’s Chorus feature most heavily in this first act, riding bikes around, playing games and tussling before stepping into line for Richard Anderson’s Bailiff, the family patriarch, who’s teaching them a sprightly Christmas carol to be heard from the wings in the opera’s tragic final scene, haunting in its almost divine intervention. Three cheers for the children too, then, who add so much personality to this production without ever playing too hard for laughs.
A few more cheers go to the Opera Australia Orchestra. They are particularly well-synchronised with what’s happening onstage under Carlo Montanaro’s direction, never speeding through Massenet’s livelier melodies nor schlepping in his more wallowing, Wagnerian passages. Indeed, there’s plenty of both musical extremes to enjoy; as easy as it is to assume so, Massenet’s music is rarely genteel. On the contrary, expect a score, and a production, with real heart.
Images courtesy Opera Australia. Credit: Prudence Upton.
