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O fortunata nata me consule Roma? London
Coliseum
10/11/2000 - and 13, 18, 24, 26, 28 October, 1, 6, 9, 15, 18 November
Giochino Rossini: The Turk in Italy
Thomas Allen (Prosdocimo), Judith Howarth (Fiorilla), Donald Maxwell (Geronio), Victoria Simmonds (Zaida), Jeremy White (Selim), Toby Spence (Narciso), Ryland Davies (Albazar)
ENO Orchestra and Chorus
Dominic Wheeler (conductor), David Fielding (director) The women‘s chorus in act one of the ENO production of The Turk in Italy look a lot like the poultry in Chicken run. They are heavily pear-shaped in their movie-musical outfits and have feathers on their heads. It’s difficult to say whether this production is an exercise in creative exotic bad taste or a complete turkey. On a first attempt to see it, your correspondent went to sleep during the first act, at least partly because of jet lag and emotional trauma, but not necessarily entirely. A second viewing of the last performance of the complete work (on 18 November) didn’t really add much enlightenment.
The idea of treating Rossini’s "putting on an opera" opera as an avatar of Pirandello and Fellini is defensible, a good one even, as there is certainly something specifically Italian in that particular literary and dramatic strand. And it’s an obvious temptation to use the Fellini connection to introduce some contemporary Italian style and humour into the season, since when modern Italian opera is represented by the grim (if powerful) Prisoner of Dallapiccola. But somehow Rossini is more interested in using the director’s manipulations to provide a context for even greater vocal excess, not parody exactly, but expression heightened by the fact that the characters are all themselves performers and artists. Prosdocimo himself gets only one aria, because he cannot be out of control for long otherwise the other characters will have no plot to justify their scenes. (The aria is plausibly cut in this version though it would be good to hear Thomas Allen singing it.) The fact that Fiorilla is Prosdocimo’s former mistress is a lot less relevant than the fact that she is a prima donna married to the producer, because that’s what affects the power play. Fellini, in contrast, is overwhelmingly worried about sex, and the extremely loaded characteristics of the sexes, matters that are at most simple tokens and types for Rossini.
But the Fellini set-up, if not enough to justify the production, is quite amusing in itself. There are strips of film draped around the scaffolding in the Coliseum, left there for La Bohème, for no obvious reason, and for La strada. The Venetian maskers are still lurking, and a Roman statue from Poppea stands in front of a box, a reminder, presumably, that we are still in Roma and headed for another catfight between divas. Prosdocimo’s move is called Italia! and he wears glasses like Marcello Mastroianni in 8 1/2, as do the male chorus. There are too many film and opera gags to note, and some of them are funny, but the whole thing doesn’t really deliver a particular mood -- panic or wry detachment -- or commentary. In addition, the focus on the gags makes the development rather fragmentary. You can understand Prosdocimo’s breakdown, as very little makes sense, but the action isn’t engaging enough to share his anxiety.
The ENO orchestra play the music with humour, and a touch of amusing vulgarity. The singers are all pretty good, as far as they can be. Judith Howarth as Fiorilla doesn’t have the sweetest coloratura you ever heard, but she did her final scena -- when she thinks her producer husband is going to divorce her and is putting on a show to win him back -- with incredible style and passion. Victoria Simmonds, a member of the ENO’s new Jerwood programme for young singers, was impressive as Zaida, hard edged as a character and vocally smooth. Donald Maxwell was an old smoothy as Geronio, Ryland Davies was understatedly camp as Albazar and Toby Spence was suitably lightweight as Narciso, Fiorilla’s ex-leading man and lover. They were all quite funny. Jeremy White was amazingly dull and unsexy as the Turk, Selim, compared to Omar Sharif, but in fact less interesting than White in his normal concert persona. Thomas Allen as Prosdocimo provided a stylish focus for the opera, but couldn’t quite rescue the production.
H.E. Elsom
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