Les Contes d'Hoffmann - SOH - 15 October 2007

Entertaining if not totally compelling by Sandra Bowdler

Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann Opera Australia Sydney Opera House 15 October 2007

Opera Australia's new production of The Tales of Hoffmann is an enjoyable exploration of the macabre and grotesque aspects of Offenbach's last operatic work, if somewhat at the expense of its romantic side. It provides an excellent vehicle for current star Emma Matthews in (as relentlessly advertised) all four soprano roles, not to mention other cast members in equally diverse parts, particularly John Wegner as Lindorf, Coppélius, Dapertutto and Dr Miracle, veteran Australian baritone John Pringle as Luther, Spalenzani and Crespel, and Kanen Breen as Nathanael, Cochenille, Pittichanaccio and Frantz. Director Stuart Maunder has generated a highly effective if somewhat (by contemporary standards) literal production, although one does wonder about the current OA obsession with mirrors. It opens with a twinkling starry background in which La Muse appears as an exaggeratedly tall figure in tiered skirt with white bodice top, from which she transmogrifies into a trousered Nicklausse. The scene is converted efficiently into an inn with the deployment of tables and the descent of a bank of lights which serves as the back setting of a bar. The Olympia scene is introduced by a revolve, revealing what one can imagine a 19th century mad scientist's laboratory might have looked like, with body parts hanging from hooks (failed experiments? spare parts for continuing creations?). To spark up the faltering doll however a distinctly 20th century defibrillator is pressed into service. A further revolve is used to take us to Giulietta's scene; comment has been made about Maunder's decision to place this before the Antonia episode, which may not have been Offenbach's intention, but both arrangements have dramatic advantages. This is a sumptuous if rather predictable Venetian ball affair, with Giulietta in red languishing in a gondola. After the interval, Antonia's domicile is dominated by a grand piano covered with a shawl. In a stunning coup de théâtre, her mother arises from the centre of the piano, to throw off the shawl and emerge as a dominating baleful figure. A last revolve returns us to the inn, with the final chorus looming from the upper balcony. Richard Hickox conducts Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, with the Opera Australia Chorus, in this repertoire in which all seem to feel comfortably at home. All the well-known set pieces are delivered with flowing and melodic ease, with appropriately dramatic highlights. The soloists are all equal to the task, and some more so. Emma Matthews is predictably brilliant as the doll, Olympia. Both musically and dramatically, Les oiseaux dans la charmille is a perfect fit for her equally sparkling (and note perfect) coloratura and stage presence. It might be suggested that she is indeed just too warm and sparky for a mechanical creation, but of course we are seeing her through Hoffmann's magic spectacles. Her Giulietta was appropriately seductive, but Antonia was a real tour de force (and in this sense justifying the positioning of this scene), evoking empathy for the artist's plight while singing with precision and control. She was ably matched by a charismatic Milijana Nikolic as Antonia's mother, singing demonically but fluently in a rich accurate mezzo. Another mezzo, Pamela Helen Stephen, also scored a success as Hoffmann's Muse and companion Nicklausse. Her more restrained tones and subtle yet commanding presence provided a dignified observer of and commentator on, and finally solution to, Hoffmann's tribulations. Rosario La Spina has the right kind of lyric tenor for Hoffmann, capable of ringing tones as in the legend of Kleinsach. If Hoffmann's struggles are interpreted as the romantic soul finally finding its proper outlet in his artistic creativity, La Spina's interpretation fell somewhat short of this goal, suggesting someone who is a more of a blundering loser, falling victim to one manifestation of wickedness after another. These manifestations were well depicted by John Wegner, a delightfully Mephistophelian figure with commanding resonant tones, even if his intonation wandered a bit, as in Scintille diamant. John Pringle was equally adept at his multiple characterisations, even if his elegant baritone is not quite what it once was. Tenor Kanen Breen is one of the most entertaining and versatile singers in the OA stable, and he made the most of the comic possibilities of his roles. Mention should also be made of the reliable Richard Alexander's Schlemil. The Tales of Hoffmann is, as far as its narrative and sensibilities go, an odd fish for contemporary Australian audiences. After the rapturous applause for Matthew's Olympia aria, the audience seemed rather less engaged; there is, perhaps inevitably, a sense of anticlimax at Hoffmann's final indifference to his erstwhile beloved. This production manages to maintain sufficient momentum to sustain interest to the end, and the company is definitely playing to its artistic strengths, in providing an entertaining if not totally compelling night at the opera.

Text © Sandra Bowdler