Pauline Viardot’s salon opera - actually, it’s more of a singspiel - was little known and barely performed in her lifetime, her talents as a composer being eclipsed, then as now, by her reputation as one of the greatest divas of her own or any other age. A slight, mildly diverting piece, it’s a good choice for Buxton’s ‘chamber’ venue, the Pavilion, where the stage can easily accommodate the small orchestral forces as well as the singing cast and chorus.
The plot in brief: an ageing sorcerer, Kakamiche, has decamped in a wood, along with his daughter Stella and his incompetent and lazy servant Perlinpinpin. His presence is an affront to the Elf Queen, whose domain this is. The appearance of Prince Lelio, a stray knight, who catches the eye of Stella, helps to resolve the problem once Kakamiche has passed through a spell of rather performative outrage, and father, servant and lovers leave the wood to its proper denizens.
Presumably for reasons of accessibility, director Lysanne van Overbeek and pianist/conductor Erika Gundesen have decided to feature an English version of Ivan Turgenev’s (yes, that Ivan Turgenev’s) libretto while leaving the numbers in the original French. Although this worked well in terms of making the action comprehensible, there was peculiar disconnect between the colloquial spoken language and the ‘floral’ French of the sung texts which didn’t obscure the music’s very mild charm.
Inevitably, the action is dominated by the role of Kakamiche, here given a bravura ‘pantomime’ performance by baritone Phil Wilcox. He is more than ably supported by Welsh soprano Eleri Gwilym as Stella, mezzo Rebecca Anderson in the breeches role of Prince Lelio, David Karapetian as Perlinpinpin and Sophie Clarke as the Elf Queen.
The production makes excellent use of the limited available space and at just over an hour’s length this is pleasant light entertainment for a summer evening.
Reviewer: Paul Ashcroft
On 13.07.26
No comments:
Post a Comment