Shakespeare Season
16 June

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This season, I have attended all eight works presented by Opera North at the Lowry.

In February, I took in the premier production of Jonathan Dove's Pinocchio and a revival of their excellent production of Peter Grimes.

Last November, I saw all three shows including the British premier of Rheinard Keiser's The Fortunes of King Croesus.

The three on offer this time round were all sourced from plays by Shakespeare.

First up was Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod. It's not often done but I've now managed to notch up three different productions. Firstly I saw it with ENO in 1983 when I heard Valerie Masterson sing an exquisite Juliet. Then, in 1994, I attended a performance at the Royal Opera House. I heard Roberto Alagna at the beginning of his career producing a vocal line of such beauty that I never expect to hear the like again in my lifetime. It was the aural equivalent of honey dripping through sunshine.

I knew that I wasn't going to get anything so splendid this time round but neither was I disappointed. This was a good all round performance of a perfectly decent second division work by a second division composer. It's at its best when being lyrical or tragical - the action moments go less well. Martin André's conducting could have found more elegance in the music. John Fulljames's production updated the action to a mafioso setting but did not damage the piece.

The two principals did very well. Bernarda Bobro looked and sang the part very well. The voice is sweet and well-projected if slightly small - she'd struggle in a larger house. Leonardo Capalbo I had seen and heard before in Il tabarro, La vida breve and Nabucco. He impressed here as well. His voice is perhaps a little beefy for what is essentially a lyric rôle but he offered both sweetened and shaded tones and plenty of soft singing.

And the two of them looked sensational. Him particularly in his skivvies. Nice arse. Big package. I've always thought of him as an emerging talent capable of taking large parts. Well here was the proof. A good night out.

However, although Mr Capalbo seemed entirely at home on stage as one of Western Europe's greatest heterosexual lovers, both Colin and I, completely separately, felt that his body language was that of a complete woofter when it came to the curtain calls. And then I found the following comment on a blog - so it must be true.

Just to help out here, he's gay, and has a long term boyfriend who is a pianist.

I think that the final word is spelt correctly.

I had really been looking forwards to A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten. It was probably the performance that was most in my sights. Well, what to say? The setting was fabulous. Johan Engels' set design and Bruno Poet's lighting design were truly magical. After that it's difficult to be positive. The conducting was flat and lifeless in a work that is full of magical sparkle.

The cast worked hard but most of them were inaudible - which, given that the orchestra is of chamber size, is inexcusable. There was a sign interpreter at the side of the stage. I would guess that deaf people in the audience got more of the words than I did.

What really told against the evening though was the direction. Martin Duncan's view of the piece was that the love juice from the flowers unleashed all manner of pent-up emotions. Well, yes, but both words and music keep all of this within bounds of propriety. I felt that he made the piece coarse in a way which was completely at odds with the magic of the setting. We laughed at rather than with the characters.

In comparison with the performance given by English Touring Opera at the Buxton Opera House which Ross and I saw back in 2004, this was not a four star event. I'll be generous and give it two and a half.

In the event, it was Verdi who came up trumps with Macbeth. This was a blazing evening conducted with real passion and sweep by Richard Farnes. Robert Hayward (who was Falstaff last autumn) was a brooding, gutsy warrior Macbeth. Antonia Cifrone was fearless in the rôle of the Lady. She had the top and bottom in the voice and allure in the presentation.

I've some quibbles about Tim Albery's production but, as with the Madama Butterfly last autumn, there is an intelligence about what he does even if I don't always agree with the results. Still, this was a very good evening of lyric theatre.

Elsewhere, Euro 2008 has just started and, so far, I have not watched a single game although talk in the office and in the training room has kept me abreast of major developments.

It's nice to know that Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo has entered into the spirit of things with his own version of Spot the Ball.