BY SPENCER DARBY
Opera Australia
Otello by Verdi
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 5 July 2014
Somewhat appropriately after the social media-fuelled furore surrounding Opera Australia’s Otello, the curtain opened to reveal a startling chorus scene as Shakespeare’s imagined storm raged just clear of upstage. The effect of the steeply raked set, flashing lights, slamming shutters, and heaving throng of choristers was to jolt the audience into an acute and immediate awareness. The chorus and orchestra were in fine form, energetically driving the opening scene. Even after the storm itself had subsided, Simon O’Neill’s first entry was not without its own tempestuous qualities. His sonorous and well-balanced heldentenor filled the hall and indeed the bodies of the audience. Australian audiences don’t get the other-worldly pleasure of hearing heldentenors all that often, so there was a palpable silence as Simon proclaimed victory over the raging maelstrom. He stood firmly atop the elegant stairs and commanded the stage with an assured, steadfast presence.
Verdi’s reimagining of the great text doesn’t wait long before introducing Iago and his depraved agenda. Claudio Sgura was more than equal to the task, presenting the villain with the appropriate layers of slick, slimy flattery and his more well-known trait of masterful people-management and manipulation. Claudio navigated the set with a greater ease than the rest of the cast, never for a moment stumbling on what was at times a bit of a liability to those in long coats or dresses. He glided around the stage, planting the seeds of his evil plot, all the while delivering an endless stream of dark, baritone vitriol. He and Simon delivered heartily on the audience’s need for mighty voices, but they were stunningly contrasted by the refined, lyric tones of James Egglestone’s Cassio. Verdi, with his impressive ability of appropriate vocal setting, obviously realised there is an innate brutishness in a dramatic-tenor’s tone compared to that of his lyric counterpart. This vocal contrast helps to reinforce the tragic misunderstanding of Cassio’s innocence and Otello’s jealous fall from grace. James oozed charm as he stumbled his way into the role of pawn in Iago’s evil game.
Lianna Haroutounian as Desdemona was a stoic figure of feminine grace and genuine bewilderment as one of the most innocent parties in any Verdi opera. She stood tall and accepted her injustice with the humility demanded by Shakespeare’s unfortunate First Lady. Her vocal refinements were no exception, as she equalled Simon’s vocal might in their stunning Act 1 duet, and as well poured forth moments of astonishing piano singing as she clung to life in unimaginably unfair circumstances. Her death itself played out somewhat clumsily though, perhaps owing to the steepness of the stately 1920s stairs on stage. What’s more, this location denied the audience the poetic injustice of her unsullied marital bed being the scene of the crime. The stairs were ideal for the ballroom and crowd scenes, but lacked the claustrophobia needed for the more intimate scenes, like Otello and Desdemona’s tender embrace shortly before Iago’s interference.
Despite one or two musical hiccoughs, as can be expected of an opening night, it was an extremely compelling performance that did justice to Verdi’s musical setting of Shakespeare’s timeless text. The cast were intimately gelled together, especially given the tumult of changing the leading-lady so close to opening. Opera Australia have achieved highly in bringing to life one of the late master works of the master opera composer.
Image supplied. Credit: Branco Gacia.
