Opera reviews: Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites

4 / 5 stars
La Fanciulla del West

THE outdoor version of Puccini's 'spaghetti Western' was warm-hearted and accessible but Poulenc's tale of a group of nuns sentenced to death during the French Revolution is unforgettable

puccini, fanciulla del westPuccini's Fanciulla Del West evokes Western musicals of the 1950s [PH]

Puccini set his “spaghetti Western” La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) in the days of the Californian gold rush.

Director Stephen Barlow updates the opera to Nevada 1951, during the first atom bomb tests.

The opera opens to designer Yannis Thavoris’ vista of desert, with GIs at the testing site in protective dark glasses against the nuclear glare.

Just as prospectors wrecked their health in mining gold, these men are doomed to ill-health or early death by their work.

The Girl of the title is Minnie, manageress of the Polka Room of the Golden Nugget Casino,  who acts as surrogate mother to the homesick men.  

Susannah Glanville’s Minnie is a glamorous, squeaky clean blonde in scarlet cowgirl outfit and stetson.  

The setting emphasises the story’s closeness to musicals of the 1950s, such as Doris Day’s Calamity Jane. 

Unlike most Puccini operas, the heroine doesn’t die in the end but gallops off with her man into the sunset (in this case by motorbike and TWA air flight.)

Opera Holland Park has a knack of discovering young singers with big voices. 

Making her OHP debut, Glanville’s radiant tone and acting ability suggest a bright future. 

Another promising OHP debutant is Indiana-born tenor Jeff Gwaltney, as Dick Johnson, the bandit who is reformed by love of a good woman. 

Tasmanian baritone Simon Thorpe  takes the role of Sheriff Jack Rance whose hatred of Johnson is fuelled by his own unrequited passion for Minnie. 

The City of London Sinfonia under conductor Stuart Stratford gives a lively performance of the score, in which one can detect themes that the composer was to develop in later operas, such as the better known Gianni Schicchi and Turandot. 

Warm-hearted and accessible, the evening was made even more so by OHP’s principal sponsor Investec’s funding of an allotment of £15 “Inspire” tickets.

 Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites was a fantastic show [PH]

Francis Poulenc based Dialogues des Carmelites on a real event during the French Reign of Terror when a group of nuns were sentenced to the guillotine by the Revolutionary Tribunal. 

Their courage as each went singing to her death brought a revulsion against the Terror regime. Only 10 days later its chief ideologist Robespierre was himself beheaded.

Director Robert Carsen’s staging is effectively spare. Michael Levine’s grey box set is stunningly lit by Jean Kalman, and at times filled with a vast menacing mob, enlisted from a 67-strong Community Ensemble. 

Visual references to the French revolution are minimal. There are no tricolour flags, cockaded hats or guillotines. 

It could be any tyrannical regime where an order to report to the authorities is the equivalent of a death sentence.

Sally Matthews takes the leading role of Blanche de la Force, a hyper-sensitive aristocrat who seeks refuge in a convent from the rigours of life, then has to make the most painful decision of all - whether to escape, or to join with her condemned sisters. 

Deborah Polaski gives a searing performance as the old Prioress wracked by a fatal illness.

Outstanding, also, is the gleaming-toned Emma Bell as the new Prioress and Anna Prohaska as the eager young noviciate Sister Constance.

The orchestra under conductor Simon Rattle gives an inspired account of Poulenc’s powerfully driven music. In the last scene, the amplified thud of brass brings down each nun, one after another, until the final profound silence. 

Unforgettable.

For Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West at Opera Holland Park, London W8 call 0300 999 1000 or visit rbkc.gov.ukPoulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites is at the Royal Opera House, London WC2. For tickets call  020 7304 4000 or visit roh.org.uk.

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