Sondheim, Rossini and Donizetti in the Peak District
The musical/operatic part of the Buxton Festival got off to a cracking start with the musical Gypsy. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim to music by Jule Styne tell the story of Rose Horvick, a domineering stage mother in the dying days of vaudeville. She is desperate to get her daughters on the stage, and it ends with her second daughter Louise (Monique Young) finally coming out of her shell as she sings the famous “Let me entertain you”.
This is not vaudeville, but as the burlesque superstar “Gypsy Rose Lee”, she succeeds in her own way. It is not what Mama Rose wanted, and she finally shows what she herself could have done in “Rose ’ s Turn”. All wonderful fun, and Joanna Riding as Mama Rose produced a stunning performance.
The following day at Buxton saw a serious opera by Rossini, a composer usually associated with lighter hearted work such as the Barber of Seville. This was La Donna del Lago , in Italian of course but based on a French translation of Walter Scott ’ s Lady of the Lake. The story involves Elena, loved by both King James V (in disguise as Uberto) and the rebel leader Rodrigo, whom her father has selected as her future husband. She however is in love with Malcom (a trouser role), who joins the rebels.
It ’ s a complex and interesting story that needs careful handling, and its first night at Naples in 1819 was a failure: “The audience whistled and booed and challenged both artists and composer throughout almost the entire evening”, according to a friend of Rossini, who was mortified. The singing that night may have been uneven, but the public disliked the sophistication of the score and was only interested in the fireworks of the final rondo by Isabella Colbran (later Rossini ’ s wife). When the composer went to her dressing room to offer congratulations, the management requested his presence on stage for a curtain call, but he was so furious with the reception of his work that he sent the messenger packing with a stunning blow, and left town immediately.
The problem in recent years has been quite different. Wonderful conducting and singing, but bizarre productions. The Royal Opera ’ s staging in 2013 by their unlamented artistic director Kasper Holten was impenetrable, and this Buxton staging by the Italian director Jacopo Spirei was a bit too clever by half. It was set as an archaeological dig that later turned into a museum piece, with Elena ’ s confidante Albina dressed as a museum guide. The costumes were from mixed periods, and the whole effect was confusing, particularly to an audience unfamiliar with this seldom performed opera. Excellent conducting however by the Festival ’ s music director Adrian Kelly, and very fine singing by Nico Darmanin (Uberto), John Irvin (Rodrigo), Catherine Carby (Malcom), and above all Máire Flavin in Colbran ’ s original role as Elena.
The following day saw a farce, Viva la Diva, about staging an opera, based on Donizetti ’ s Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali . Director Stephen Medcalf treated the whole thing as rehearsals for an opera (Hasse ’ s eighteenth century Romolo ed Ersilia ) in a provincial backwater, which might have worked well, but didn ’ t. The English version of this farce, written by Kit Hesketh-Harvey, tried too hard to make it relevant to the present day by inserting numerous jokes about recent news. Some were subtle such as a threat against Buxton cathedral, an allusion to the Salisbury poisonings by Russia (Buxton has no cathedral), but I found most of it way over the top, like third-rate Monty Python. It was partly saved by the excellent performance of George Humphreys as the irrepressible Lady Agatha, but I was relieved when it was all over.
Buxton is a lovely town in the Peak District, and the Festival is well worth a visit for Gypsy, and the wonderful singing in La Donna del Lago.
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