Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Fri 17 Feb
words: STEPHEN NOTTINGHAM
★★★☆☆
This Welsh National Opera (WNO) production of Beatrice & Benedict was first staged in 1994 at Cardiff’s New Theatre. It has been revived twice before, but was here performed on the WMC stage for the first time.
Berlioz based his opera on Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, but stripped the play of most of its plot and characters. No-one is going to get lost trying to follow the action in this opera. It’s all about the music. The overture (which Berlioz wrote last) is often performed as a stand-alone piece, and it introduces the melodic highlights to come. The 15 songs and linking dialogue are performed entirely in English in this production, which lasts under two hours plus interval. It is certainly one of the company’s most accessible shows.
The action takes place throughout on the terrace of an Italian villa in Messina, in this elegant and visually-delightful Elijah Moshinsky production. The lighting immediately sets the mood with a scene bathed in terracotta warmth, while subtle changes in light give us the time of day.
Sara Fulgoni returns in the role of Beatrice, opposite Robin Tritschler as Benedict (who begged our indulgence for singing after a recent head cold); both earned their cheers by the curtain calls. The famous quarrelsome couple is contrasted, as in Shakespeare, with the romantic lovers Hero and Claudio, sung by Laura Mitchell and the company’s rising star Gary Griffiths, respectively.
Act One highlights include the comedy chorus and the nocturne. Donald Maxwell plays the chorus master Somarone (a character created by Berlioz), a role he has made his own at WNO. He leads the perfectly-judged WNO chorus parody (complete with dog and donkey vocal contributions). It must take real skill and timing to play and sing this badly. Here, and in the song celebrating Sicilian wine at the start of Act Two, Maxwell expertly gets the loudest laughs I have heard at an opera in this venue, with his improvised and occasionally topical musical in-jokes (tenors are frequently mocked, and selling insurance is mentioned).
The beautiful nocturne is exquisitely sung by Laura Mitchell (Hero) and Anna Burford (Hero’s lady-in-waiting Ursula), and also showcases the fine playing of the WNO orchestra under conductor Michael Hofstetter. The rising moon above the distant town helps create a spellbinding mood.
Act Two includes the wonderful trio sung by Hero (soprano), Beatrice (mezzo-soprano), and Ursula (contralto). Things are bought to a rousing conclusion with the wedding chorus.
Everyone seems to be eating throughout this production. In previous performances, fresh pasta has been cooked in the kitchen, in the large pot seen through a window at the back of the terrace, which has been served with a tomato sauce to the chorus. However, at this performance only champagne was bought out for the chorus at the finale. Maybe the pasta will be restored later in the run.
The costumes look great, and are apparently based on outfits worn by the Victorian-era Royal Family. However, the voluminous skirts did seem to shrink the stage space. Things got a bit crowded at times, with a swirl of a skirt always likely to knock something off the table (only once on this occasion). Originally designed for the New Theatre and for touring, the set could usefully have been extended here to make better use of the WMC stage.
All things considered, it’s a surprise that WNO have waited a decade before reviving this highly enjoyable production.
Beatrice & Benedict can be seen at the WMC on Sun 26 Feb, at Swansea Grand Theatre on Thurs 19 April (and in between at other venues in Wales and England: http://www.wno.org.uk/beatrice/venues-and-performances)