Cherry Town, Moscow is a timely piece, if ever there was one. With The Black Spider finally seen earlier this year, Welsh National Youth Opera are quick to trot with their latest project: their biggest in the Donald Gordon Theatre since Paul Bunyan back in 2013, for the Benjamin Britten centenary.
Best known for his secret coding and piercing drastic flare, Shostakovich is not the first name when it comes to operetta, the lighter side of the opera art form. Cherry Town, Moscow, which premiered in 1959, was written just a few years after the death of Joseph Stalin, a man seen as a tyrannic blight for millions of Russians. Shostakovich admitted he wasn’t happy with it and it remains rarely staged.
Though the work does give the youths a rowdy old time, some moments shine. Breaking into the thing, I soon discovered how near the songs are parked between brief spoken moments. An absurd story about a new block of flats being built for the workers – who never get their keys – is transposed from the 1950s to the 80s, so expect a checklist of quaffed hair, raves and leg warmers. You couldn’t really take it any later than that decade, with the Soviet Union than in its twilight years, and the idea of setting the production today was dismissed.
There is the typical youth opera bluster, much forcing of humour which does not always land, and it was absurd to hear roaring Welsh accents in a piece set in Russia. Still, the singing in Cherry Town, Moscow is impressive and shows promise. The orchestra were a highlight: saxophone, guitar, piano and one song featuring a pleasing amount of flexatone left a pang in the brain, and the lead singers and chorus remained a delight, even if more acting work may need to be considered.
The direction of Daisy Evans gives the ensembles things to do. I’m still thinking of the absurd ballet sequence toward the end of the show, a marker for Shostakovich’s talent in dance. The set of Loren Elstein could divide opinion upon its impact, though it remains quite practical – the flats, compressed into spinning boxes, were also used as the museum and garden. A Soviet-inspired screen was a fine reproduction of art from the era.
Conductor Alice Farnham brought out the Sunday best for both singers and instrumentalists (the matinée I saw was the first of two performances on the day). Though the story may feature too many characters and is burdened with a lazy conclusion, I did note the auditorium was fuller than the opening night of WNO’s Makropulos Affair. So it looks like this choice of an obscure Russian rarity might have paid off.
Cherry Town, Moscow, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Sun 9 Oct
words JAMES ELLIS
