A minimalist approach rejuvenates this opera classic: Verdi's La Traviata at the ENO

4 / 5 stars
La Traviata

VERDI'S La Traviata and Puccini's La Boheme are the two finest examples of the boy-meets-girl, they-fall-in-love, girl-dies classic opera plot, and in both cases, the drama is usually enhanced by effective changes of scene.

ENO's La TraviataDonald Cooper

It is Elizabeth Zharoff's performance that remains the outstanding memory

La Boheme moves from freezing Parisian garret to bustling cafe; La Traviata goes from opulent ballroom to grand house fallen on hard times, to rundown room as the poor heroine dies penniless.

Most of that, however, is dispensed with in Peter Konwitschny's production (in an excellent English translation with surtitles) which was first seen at the ENO in 2013. In fact, he does it all with one chair, a pile of books and a lot of curtains. This has both pluses and minuses. 

On the minus side, it loses much of the drama that changes of scenery can provide, but on then plus side, it removes all distraction from the glory of the music and the excellent singing, and also enables the production to dispense with its usual intervals.

By playing the whole thing through without a break, it provides 1 hour 50 minutes of non-stop music which keeps the audience riveted throughout

By playing the whole thing through without a break, it provides 1 hour 50 minutes of non-stop music which keeps the audience riveted throughout. 

With no intervals and almost no scenery to help illustrate the story, however, the production places great demands on the stamina as well as the acting and vocal abilities of the cast, and the main roles showed themselves to be fully up to the challenge. 

The US soprano Elizabeth Zharoff was quite magnificent as the doomed Violetta, playing the role with impressive energy and a voice that conveyed her changing emotions magnificently. I do not think I have ever seen the part acted so well.

British tenor Ben Johnson also gave an excellent performance as Alfredo, who falls hopelessly in love with Violetta. It is a difficult role to play convincingly, as he Alfredo seems such a victim of all that is going on around him, but Johnson turns him into a stronger character than usual, trying to influence things rather than weakly letting himself be pushed around. 

British baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore is also excellent as Alfredo's overbearing and pompous father, Giorgio Germont, who demands that Violetta leave Alfredo, as her past as an upper-class tart will bring shame upon the family.

The weakest part of this production, however, is the unusual inclusion of Germont's young daughter into the action, which is both an unnecessary distraction and weakens the story. 

With the high quality singing, no intervals and the orchestra conducted with great verve by Roland Böer, it all adds up to a glorious celebration of Verdi's magnificent score.

But it was the acting of Elizabeth Zharoff that remains the outstanding memory. 

Tickets: www.eno.org or 020 7845 9300 (playing until March 13). This production will be broadcast live from the Coliseum to over 400 UK cinemas on March 11. For details, see www.eno.org/enoscreen.

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