La Traviata : Preview
Consuming Passions
La Traviata : Preview
Instant Opera at Normansfield Theatre, Teddington, 6th to 8th October
Preview: Opera critic Thomas Forsythe discusses the forthcoming production of Verdi’s La Traviata with Instant Opera’s Artistic Director, Nicholas George
TF: Hello Nick. It is good to meet up with you again. Thank you for the opportunity once more to chat with you about Instant Opera’s latest production. This season, it is La Traviata Giuseppe Verdi’s perennial blockbuster. Yet, after the première in 1853, Verdi wrote “La traviata last night was a failure, “Was the fault mine … ?” He could not have been more overwhelmingly wrong as, year after year, La Traviata breaks records as the world’s most frequently performed opera. What is it, do you see, that gives this work its enduring appeal?
NG: Hello Thomas, he did indeed, but Verdi ended that particular quotation with“…time will tell” . Writing La Traviata during his ‘middle period’ creatively, I suspect he had no doubt of the enduring appeal his opera would have – it really has everything. But Verdi fell foul of the censors at La Fenice, Venice, by having the temerity of try to set it in his own era, and they insisted that it should be set some hundred years earlier. This is something that intrigued me for our production.
TF: The familiarity of a well-performed piece obviously has its pros and cons, but there is the option of transposing it to a different setting. The prime example is Shakespeare’s plays. Do we stay with the purists, or do we add a new twist and create another time or place for a well-loved work. Instant Opera pulled off a successful relocation of La bohème in your 2019 production, which was revived at Normansfield in January last year, Puccini’s1830 Paris becoming Amsterdam in the 1970’s. Rumour has it that you may be moving La Traviata, traditionally also an early nineteenth Parisian setting, to another place and era.
NG: Yes, with the knowledge of the preceding answer firmly in mind, I was struck by the reoccurring similarity of moral hypocrisy in different eras – in particular of London in the early 1960’s which was then poised on the brink of one of the most fascinating social and cultural changes in its history. It was not so much a cultural evolution, more of a car crash. Also interesting, is that the terrible malady of ‘consumption’ (also at the heart of this piece) had by no means disappeared by the 1960’s as most people might imagine. This is explained further in our show programme notes. Think of the scene in the 1966 film Alfie between Michael Caine and Eleanor Bron. In fact thousands of people per year are still being diagnosed with tuberculosis in the UK today, nearly half of them Londoners. ‘Not a lot of people know that’ as Mr Caine might say!
TF: The same grapevine buzzes with hints of an infamous club as the setting for a louche soiree. Can you tell us more?
NG: No, you’ll have to wait! Ok, avoiding direct spoilers – we have tried to recreate a formerly renowned and established night club in London, that became increasingly the venue for the louche soirees that you mention (although they were, in a sense, touchingly innocent by modern standards). It was to become the epicentre of the seismic events that were to change this country socially and politically for ever. ‘Nuff said!
TF: Verdi’s La Traviata is a good example of the verismo style of Italian opera that embraces a stark realism, the sort of thing that Puccini’s tear-jerkers exemplify, La bohème or Madama Butterfly for instance, always with a tragic ending. La Traviata’s story of seeking true love against the background of staunch family honour, has Violetta dying of consumption as its heartbreaking climax, and her final aria addio del passato is one of the most affecting in all opera. The part is being performed by two of your star sopranos, whose careers are taking off. Could you tell us about that?
NG: The role of Violetta is the heart and soul of this piece, and we are delighted to welcome back star sopranos Nicola Said and Camilla Jeppeson, who were both part of our aforementioned La bohème productions and who also brought the house down, more recently, as our two Lucias in our Lucia di Lammermoor. Our Violettas are, once again, perfectly matched by their Alfredos, Anando Mukerjee and Oswaldo Iraheta, respectively. They headline two magnificent casts and chorus.
TF: Yes, I noticed from your website that there are two different casts of principals for the evening performances and the matinées, but I see there are many of your best singers whom we have had the pleasure of seeing perform before. Are there also any new members of the cast we should watch out for?
NG: All of them! Every year we hold auditions in March for our new October productions, and every year we become more and more amazed by the talent that walks in through the door. This year we’ve truly unearthed an embarrassment of riches for both our casts and chorus. A major shout out should also be given to our principal covers – for example Emily Sloan (one of our Violetta covers) and Joshua Baxter (one of our principals and also our Alfredo cover), to name but two. Any of them could quite easily carry the show if called upon – we’ve made a point of featuring them all in our show programme.
TF: And you have Valeria Perboni, whom you talent-spotted at l’Arena di Verona, and Instant Opera’s stalwart Lewis Gaston as stage director and musical director respectively, the winning team from last year’s Lucia di Lammermoor.
NG: It is a great pleasure and inspiration to work with both Valeria and Lewis again. Valeria provides, and importantly knows how to implement, her steady stream of brilliant ideas with bright, positive energy. Lewis provides the cast and orchestra with musical rigour and a deep insight and understanding of the score, whilst bringing out its essentially lyrical nature. We’re a good team! Our assistant MD and répétiteur Ezra Williams (also now appearing on stage!), has also been a backbone of support and musical excellence.
I must also mention our amazing production team of Patricia Gómez (assistant stage director), Lyn Keay (scenery artist), Simon Pike (lighting design) and Andrew Lynn (technical consultant). I can’t mention all of them here, but there would literally be ‘nothing to see here’ without their talents and energy.
TF: Very early on in the opera we have the brindisi, that well-known drinking song, libiamo ne’ lieti calici, which seems like an ironic joyful musical background for the rest of the tragic tale that unfolds. This certainly gives one great opportunity for some wonderful chorus singing, the other being at Flora’s party. The chorus can be a few pals or a full oratorio sized crowd. Where are you going with yours?
NG: Instant Opera can now boast it’s biggest ever chorus and whilst there are certainly a few pals there, I can tell you they also represent the best of emerging operatic talent, many of them also covering the principal roles that I referred to earlier. Then a few others have also been cast and choreographed in dancing roles, which they perhaps did not expect when they walked in for the audition! They look and sound amazing. Likewise our orchestra – now some forty strong for Verdi – will make a beautiful and visceral impression, especially within the confines of Normansfield Theatre. Just like opera should be!
TF: With all the exciting performers you have mentioned, and the intriguingly inventive setting you hinted at, Instant Opera’s La Traviata will be quite an experience for both aficionados and those new to opera. What can your audience expect and what would you like them to go away with?
NG: I hope they will be moved, as well as entertained. We have certainly been rehearsing for it. La Traviata, in any setting, has many some uncomfortable truths underpinning the underlying tragedy of it, as it did in its original incarnation as a play. With Verdi’s powerful, lyrical score, it becomes a force of nature.
TF: Probably, I will find myself going away with the brindisi; it’s quite an earworm, but no doubt all those touching arias will come flooding back. I need to be quick though, as I understand all performances are hot tickets at present.
NG: Yes, another first for us are the four back-to-back performances we are doing over one weekend at Normansfield. This is partly because both our two stellar casts are deserving of two shows each, and partly because the three shows we used to do sold out weeks before the first performance! Amazingly all four performances are now likely to sell out too, so you’ll need to be quick indeed!
TF: I need to let you get back to the rehearsal room, as you modestly forgot to mention that you are playing the role of Germont, the right-and-proper father of Alfredo, Violetta’s earnest lover. Nick, thank you so much for your time in discussing Instant Opera’s forthcoming production of La Traviata.
NG: Thanks, Thomas. Please also look out for my role counterpart, Franco Kong, too. People will love whichever cast they see, if they manage to get a ticket!
Thomas Forsythe, September 2023
Photography courtesy of Instant Opera
Mark Aspen 