Reviewed by James
Karas
The 67th
edition of the Aix-en-Provence Festival opened with Katie Mitchell’s production
of Alcina.
The production is worthy of many superlatives but I prefer to grant it the
ultimate accolade and say it has the touch of genius. I choose the word with
care and do not toss it carelessly as it is done in some media.
A view of the set of Alcina. Photo copyright Patrick Berger)
Mitchell has gone
beyond a brilliant recreation of a baroque opera. She has taken a huge leap of
the imagination and added a level to Handel’s work that few directors could
have conceived and even fewer executed.
Alcina, as we know, opens by the mouth of a cave surrounded by rugged
mountains. The medieval story unfolds as Bradamante (Katarina Bradić) disguised as her brother Ricciardo and her companion Melisso
(Krzysztof Baczyk) meet the sorceress Morgana (Anna Prohaska). Morgana falls in
love at first sight with the disguised Bradamante.
Mitchell and her designer
Chloe Lamford set the opera around the 1920’s and the present. The opera opens
in a palatial room with a large bed in the centre. A couple is engaged in what
couples are engaged in when in bed and servants are milling around. The couple,
we will learn, is the sorceress Alcina (Patricia Petibon) and her prisoner and
lover Ruggiero (Phillippe Jaroussky) but for the time being they make a quick
exit.
Two men looking like
commandos enter the room. They wear bulletproof vests, point guns and look as
if they could blow up the place. They are Bradamante and Melisso. Morgana falls
in love with “Ricciardo” but in this production she expresses it in more earthy
style by being tied to the bed, arms and feet, legs open, in a very explicit
carnal invitation. Her aria “O s’apre il riso” speaks of temptation, her body
screams of lust. The production gets sexually pretty explicit and Morgana seems
to enjoy a bit of S&M.
The leap of the
imagination that Mitchell has taken is to place part the opera in the 1920’s.
Alcina turns her lovers into animals, rocks and trees like Circe. But the another
part of the opera takes place in the present and Alcina and her sister Morgana
are old, ugly women. They step from the palatial room into ugly spaces on each
side and they change from being young and beautiful to being old and ugly. They
are practicing magic on their guests and on themselves until their ability to
cast spells is broken. Mitchell has added a whole new layer to the opera.
There are three
playing areas on the main stage and two above them. On the upper tier there is
a veritable transformation lab where humans are converted in beasts, rocks and
plants. The sorceresses change from young to old by walking through magic
doors. There is a great deal of bustle on stage and at times there is something
going on in four places.
The result is an
astoundingly original view of the opera that may have left some people in the audience
gasping to follow what was going on. It is the only reason I can think of for
some of them booing the creative team after giving a thunderous approval to the
singers and the orchestra.
Brilliant conception
can mean bugger-all without a stunning cast and orchestra and here it is all
one can hope for.
Alcina is a complex
character capable of evil and perverted love with prodigious vocal demands.
French soprano Patricia Petibon gives a signature performance with vocal ardour
and strength. Handel gives her the best arias of the opera and she sings with a
vocal and emotional non pareil.
Morgana, her sister
and partner in love and crime is ably sung by Austrian soprano Prohaska. She
loved the decent Oronte (done well by tenor Antony Gregory) until she fell for
Ricciardo and she can sing quite splendidly and emotively as in “Credete al mio
dolore” where she brings her former lover to his emotional knees.
Serbian mezzo-soprano
Katarina Bradić as Bradamante switches from pretending to be a man to being a
beautiful woman. The transformation takes place in front of us as her commando
outfit is exchanged for a red dress. Her voice descends easily into lush
contralto territory and rises into soprano range with ease. A superb
performance.
The whole story is
about the faithful Bradamante going in search of her fiancé Ruggiero sung by
the inimitable countertenor Phillippe Jaroussky. He is part of a small number
of first rate singers who can reach the heights and achieve the delicacy of the
male voice in upper vocal ranges. The role was originally sung by castrati and in
modern productions is usually performed by mezzo-sopranos. Jaroussky performs
it with ease and panache.
Conductor Andrea
Marcon and the Freiburger Barockorchester got one of the most thunderous
ovations. Well-deserved for a marvelous rendition of the score.
The wreath, however,
goes to Katie Mitchell for conception and execution that goes far beyond
ordinary brilliance and, it bears repeating, displays nothing less than a touch
of genius.
______
Alcina by Georg Frederic Handel opened on July 2 and
will be performed seven times until July 20, 2015 at the Grand Théâtre de
Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France. http://festival-aix.com/
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