WERTHER – REVIEW OF 2026 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Jules Massenet’s Werther has had a rocky history, but it has joined the standard repertoire even if it is with infrequent productions. The Canadian Opera Company last performed it in 1992. Thirty-four years later, it is offering us a new production, a co-production in fact with the Opera de Montreal and the Vancouver Opera. Nice to see Canadian companies co-operating. 

The libretto is based on Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, his sorrows being that he cannot get the woman he loves. That is hardly a unique occurrence and disappointment in love for the duration of a play or a novel, means that you take your moping and life goes on. You may take the case of King Edward VIII who give up a kingdom for the woman he loved.

In the opera’s creaky plot Werther is in love with Charlotte, and she has no objection to reciprocating his grand passion except for the fact that she is married and not prepared to betray her husband. And adultery is not an option. This is noble love.

Massenet’s librettists provide some padding like rehearsing Christmas carols in July, meeting some local people to help with the advancement of the plot and an extended death scene. If a man is willing to give up his life for love, he is entitled to some of our time.

The COC production by Alain Gauthier with sets designed by Olivier Laudreville and costumes designed by Leilah Dufour Forget is very good and there is nothing they could do about the creaky plot. But to Gauthier’s credit he remains faithful to the feel of the opera.

The opera opens with the ever-reliable bass Robert Pomakov as the Bailiff trying to get his six children to rehearse Christmas carols in July. They will get them right by Christmas.  

Werther, our hero, enters the yard of the Bailiff’s house and he is in a state of ecstasy. He has not seen Charlotte, the woman that will make him more ecstatic which in his case is impossible. He is at the peak. He wonders if he is awake or dreaming. This is paradise where the woods sigh like a harp. He goes on praising nature, the sun, the walls, the hedges in almost erotic language. The expression of that powerful ardor in the opening scene and to the end of the opera is in the hands and vocal chords of tenor Russell Thomas. Through solos and duets his defining romantic being is maintained with unfailing sonority.

 Victoria Karkacheva and Russell Thomas in Werther. Photo: Michael Cooper

The inspirer of his passion is not nature or the hedges and flowers, but the lovely Charlotte sung by soprano Victoria Karkacheva in her debut with the COC. Charlotte in the hands of Karkacheva has everything to offer as a woman but there a couple obstacles. She is first betrothed and then married to Albert (bass-baritone Gordon Bintner – fine performance). And she promised her mother that she will marry Albert. Karkacheva has a lovely voice and she expresses passion and restraint but eventually tells Werther that she does love him and they kiss. In this opera a kiss is the equivalent of a celestial experience.      

Soprano Simone Osborne sang the role of Sophie, Charlotte’s teenage sister. We like her character and her lovely singing except that on a couple of occasions that orchestra drowned her out.

Johannes Debus conducted the COC Orchestra in the outpouring of romantic music (it’s a package deal) that rounded off the evening.

The set by Landreville consisted of some moveable walls and a view of the background when we are in the Bailiff’s yard. The background is a bland colour and it is at odds with Werther’s aria praising nature. Would some lush greeneries not have been more appropriate? Maybe it would make no difference. Werther sees or dreams of whatever he wants anyway.

Director Gauthier does a highly commendable job by giving us a well-thought out, solid and enjoyable production.    

_____________________

Werther by Jules Massenet with a libretto by Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann is being performed seven times by the Canadian Opera Company until May 23, 2026 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. For details see www.coc.ca

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto