By Gaetano Donizetti
Conducted by Carlo Montanaro
Directed by John Doyle - Revival Director: Roger Press
Set and Costumes designed by Liz Ashcroft - Lighting
designed by Jane Cox
Presented by Opera Australia
Joan Sutherland Theatre – Sydney Opera House – 28th
June to 27 July, 2018.
Opening night performance on 28th June reviewed
by Bill Stephens
This was a night of opera to be cherished. The air of
expectancy in the Joan Sutherland Theatre was palpable at the prospect of
experiencing this particular performance by an Australian singer making her
Sydney Opera House debut in a role for which she has won International acclaim,
supported by a cast of outstanding local and International singers.
 |
| Jessica Pratt as Lucia |
Jessica Pratt did not disappoint. Honed over nearly 100 performances in 20 different productions, her multi-faceted interpretation, as Donizetti’s tragic and fragile heroine, Lucia, who, forced into an arranged marriage by her unscrupulous brother, Enrico, to settle family debts, goes mad and murders her husband on their wedding night, was as near to perfection as one is ever likely to experience. Pratt commands attention from her very first entrance, as she confidently attacks the complexities of the role. Her stagecraft is impeccable, her acting strong and affecting, and she certainly knows how to make the most of her costumes.
However, it’s her voice which really sets her apart. Her
sound is crystalline clear over the full range, and she sings with incredible
precision with each note perfectly produced to spine-tingling effect. Her
trills and cadenzas are cut-glass clear, and even when she is singing at her
most pianissimo, as in the mad scene when she sings “Alfin son tua, alfin sei
mio” (At last I’m yours, you are mine at last)”, every note floats effortlessly to the far
corners of the theatre.
 |
| Georgio Caoduro (Enrico) - Jessica Pratt (Lucia) |
However, Pratt's is not the only outstanding singing in
this production. Both American tenor, Michael Fabiano, as Lucia’s passionate
lover, Edgardo, and Italian baritone, Georgio Caoduro as her conniving brother,
Enrico , sing magnificently and act with such conviction, that their solos and
duets elicited excited “Bravos” from the
audience. Regular Opera Australia
principals, Richard Anderson (Raimondo), Jane Ede (Alisa), John Longmuir (Arturo)
and Benjamin Rasheed (Normanno) were certainly not overshadowed, offering
strong characterizations and singing of distinction.
 |
| Michael Fabiano (Edgardo) - Jessica Pratt (Lucia) |
John Doyle’s austere production with its sombre
abstract setting of grey clouds and geometrical shapes, devoid of any sense of
time or period, with the chorus costumed in gloomy black and grey costumes,
provided a suitably foreboding atmosphere. His staging for the ensemble has
them moving in regimented lines, curiously detached from the action, and in the
mad scene, reduced to lines of faceless shadowy figures. This staging provides occasional welcome
spectacle, but most often simply reduces the ensemble to background for the
set-pieces performed by the principals.
 |
| Giorgio Caoduro (Enrico) - John Longmuir (Arturo) - and ensemble |
The rich period costumes of the seven principal singers provide some visual relief and the staging is certainly effective in focusing the attention on the singing, which when you have a cast of singers as exceptional as these, backed by a fine chorus and impeccably accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra, under the baton of Carlo Montanaro, is exactly as it should be.
Photos by Prudence Upton
This review first published in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au