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A Traviata aching with emotion
La Traviata Welsh National Opera Birmingham Hippodrome ***** VERDI'S tragic tale of La Traviata, the fallen woman, is about more than just love, it is about passion and raw emotion. You have to feel the hurt of Alfredo and Violetta not just hear it. That was the element
that seemed to be missing the last time this otherwise excellent WNO
production was staged at the Hippodrome in 2009 but last night it was
there in spades. Carlos Osuna had had to return to Mexico because
of family commitments which meant his place as our tragic hero Alfredo
was taken by Italian-American tenor Leonardo Capalbo. No disrespect to
old Carlos and we wish him well but by halfway through Act One no one
cared. New Jersey born Capalbo is all you could want in
a dashing romantic lead – young, 34, handsome, slim, looks good with his
shirt off and a fine voice to boot – the sort of bloke other blokes
secretly hate. But on top of a wonderful voice the lad can act
which can be a failing in opera where it is all to easy to let the arias
carry the emotions along. The story is simple. Alfredo falls in love with
Violetta, (Joyce El-Khoury) a courtsesan, who gives up her less
than respectable life to be with him. The boy's father persuades her to
end the relationship for the good of the family name which she
reluctantly does on condition Alfredo is told what she has done when she
dies from the TB which is slowly killing her.
When Alfredo suspects that his father Georgio
(Jason Howard) has interfered and engineered the break up of his
relationship with the Violetta he shows genuine fury and you can
feel his sense of betrayal when he arrives uninvited and drunk at a
party given by Flora, (Amanda Baldwin), his pain and contempt as he pays
her for her services while he was her lover and his contempt and hatred
for the lover she has returned to, Baron Douphal. (Eddie Wade). He is matched superbly by the young Canadian
soprano Joyce El-Khoury as Violetta who is both attractive and has a
voice which is rich and clear in both tone and control and, like her
lover, she can really act. She is the sort of woman a young man could easily
fall for which is not always the case in opera where a fine voice can
leave imagination having to work overtime for romantic leads who are,
should we say, rather more mature and perhaps too well upholstered for
the parts they play. It is not a new phenomenon. When La Traviata
premiered in Venice in 1853 it took some stick from the audience for the
casting of acclaimed Italian soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli as Violetta. Fanny was 38, and looked it, and was somewhat
rotund so caused great amusement playing a young, frail, stunning beauty
dying of consumption in the final scene. No danger of that with Miss El-Khoury though who
looked the part of a successful courtesan and you felt her anguish as
she agrees to give up her Alfredo, her despair as she is humiliated by
him at the party and finally her grief on her deathbed. Her Ah, fors'è lui and Sempre libera
set the tone and by the time we reach Addio, del passato bei sogni
ridenti, Farewell, lovely, happy dreams of the past, we really feel
for the woman not just through the music. She is Violetta not just
someone singing the words. Joyce El-Khoury as Violetta has a beautiful voice and the looks to charm any young Alfredo and even his respectable father Georgio (Jason Howard) Her duets with both the rich baritone of Jason
Howard and the excellent Capalbo are highlights along with the
bitterness of Alfredo as he asks Questa donna
conoscete? – "You know this woman?"
as he throws his winnings at her to pay for her services as a courtesan. This was the original Pretty Woman, the courtesan
with a heart and noble sprit, based on The Lady of the Camellias by
Alexandre Dumas, fils, the illegitimate son of his more famous father. The tragedy is embedded in Verdi's sumptuous
music but with this cast you not only hear it unfold but watch the
characters come to life so that by the end you really do care about the
people they have become. The sets by Tanya McCallin are magnificent. Huge
and elegant in predominantly funereal black and white while Marie
Lambart, the revival director for David McVicar's original direction
keeps the action moving along at a good pace and still manages the
difficult feat of making large crowd scenes at the parties appear as a
Victorian tableaux rather than a mob of people in fancy dress cluttering
up the back of the stage – a lot more difficult than it seems as anyone
who has directed any crowd scene will tell you. Costumes are rich and elegant as you would expect
from 1880s Paris and the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, under
Julia Jones were quite magnificent. This is a Traviata which tugs at the emotions and
seems to end all too soon. It is on again on 09-03-12. Roger Clarke
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