Review: Opera North, La Rondine, Leeds Grand Theatre

La Rondine (The Swallow) was Puccini’s response to a commission from the directors of Vienna's Carltheater to write an operetta. Puccini accepted on condition that his new work could take the form of a comic opera with no spoken dialogue.

La Rondine was eventually premiered on 27th April 1917 in Monte-Carlo, when Europe was engulfed in the horrors of the Great War. The operetta’s nostalgic and glamorous setting in La Belle Époque Paris will have provided a welcome respite for the region’s elite but their response was lukewarm. Puccini’s charming musical score is sprinkled with lilting waltz themes. This did not go down well with audiences and critics who had acclaimed the earlier verismo Puccini of Tosca, La bohème and Madam Butterfly.

There was no tear jerking death scene. The courtesan Magda in La Rondine, unlike Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, is evidently in robust health. Magda is the mistress of Rambaldo a wealthy banker. She is prepared to swop financial security for true love on meeting Ruggero, a young man from a decent provincial family.

Although updated to the austere sounding 1930’s, James Hurley‘s new production for Opera North does not stint on opulence or glamour. Leslie Travers’ multi-level set is dominated by a huge vase of flowers. Gabrielle Dalton’s luxuriant costumes evoke the decadent splendour of Magda’s house party and Bullier’s Cafe. The latter’s crowd scenes embellished by Parisian Apache dancing, powerfully choreographed by Lauren Poulton.

A large company is led by Russian soprano Galina Averina as Magda and French tenor Sébastien Guèze as an ardent Ruggero. Averina’s creamy soprano enchants in Doretta’s Dream, the famous coloratura waltz-song. Guèze is heartrending in Ruggero’s impassioned plea to Magda not to abandon him, but to no avail. Magda presumably flies away, like a swallow, to a distant sunlit land of dreams. Such luxury casting is underpinned by the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North conducted with tremendous panache by Kerem Hasan.

Sir Richard Mantle, General Director of Opera North 1993 - 2023 reminded the audience of the company’s upcoming 45th Birthday. I vividly recall the excitement of the first night of Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, on 15th November 1978. Since then Opera North’s presence in Leeds has generated well in excess of £500 million for the city’s economy and helped to sustain thousands of jobs in the hospitality sectors.

Leeds Grand Theatre, October 24th, 26th & 28th.