The West Australian Opera’s ‘Il Trovatore’ is a visually sspectacularproduction filled with emotion.
The curtain rises on Michael Scott-Mitchell’s impressive set. A giant wall of a castle, that later folds and bends like a piece of intricate origami.
Throughout the show it twists and folds to become a church, a convent, a camp, a house and finally it completely transforms to become a prison.
Like most Operas, Verdi’s popular work has a convoluted story line.
A gypsy woman is burned at the stake for bewitching the child of an aristocratic family. The woman’s daughter Azucena kidnaps the younger child of the family and plans to throw him on to the pyre where he mother burns.
Azucena get’s confused though and accidentally throws her own child on the fire. She raises the kidnapped boy as her own. Years later both he and his brother fall in love with the same woman and a destiny with tragic consequences is kicked off.
The story is actually easy to follow because it’s laid out really nicely in the program and the subtitles on screens at the side of the stage help immensely. Yet, even without these tools the Opera is easy to follow, the emotion that comes though in the singing in easy to embrace.
The production also had a surprising moment of nudity, all in context of course, but at the beginning of Act II when some of the rebel soldiers are captured and taken in by the army – they suddenly strip off their clothes to don their new uniforms.
The lead performrers are all engaging, James Clayton as the military leader Count de Luna, Rosario La Spina as his long lost brother Manrico, Elizabeth Campbell as Azucena and Jennifer Rowley as the love interest Leonora.
Verdi’s music and words are incredibly beautiful and as you sit and watch the show you are swept away in a wave of Romanticism and nostalgia. Even if you’ve never been to an Opera in your life, you’ll know parts of this one – ‘The Anvil Chorus’ is instantly recognisable.
A wonderful production that was captivating to watch.
Il Trovatore is on at His Majesty’s Theate until November 8th. Book tickets at WA Opera.
Graeme Watson, image: James Rogers
