US Edition 
La Fanciulla del West, review: 'glibly amusing'
Stephen Barlow's production takes Puccini's opera to Las Vegas and turns it into a slice of quaint camp, says Rupert Christiansen
The interval of the opening production of Opera Holland Park’s summer season found me in high dudgeon. Nothing had been added to Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West by the director Stephen Barlow’s decision to translate its Californian Gold Rush setting to Las Vegas during the atomic test era, and Stuart Stratford’s stolid conducting had made heavy weather of the difficult first scenes.
The bunch of losers and ne’er-do-wells who gather in Minnie’s saloon either shouted, or were inaudible, or both, and their personalities weren’t sufficiently differentiated. Simon Thorpe’s Sheriff Rance made little impression, and although blessed with the right physique for the role, Jeff Gwaltney’s bandito Dick Johnson seemed too greenhorn for the lush music that Puccini originally tailored for the sumptuous tenor of Enrico Caruso.
Only a startlingly good vocal showing by Susannah Glanville’s Minnie – flamboyantly dressed as a cowgirl, Annie Oakley style – lifted my spirits, even though it was hard to credit that such a sassy glamourpuss ran a bible class and had never been kissed.
Given so many minuses on the balance sheet, I wasn’t surprised that several members of the audience decided not to return for the second half. But they should regret their haste, because once inside Minnie’s log cabin, things took a distinct turn for the better.
Barlow’s staging came into sharper dramatic focus and Stratford’s conducting suddenly picked up pace, establishing a visceral connection with the score’s steamy eroticism. Gwaltney gained confidence and opened up lyrically for the ecstatic love duet, while Glanville sang and acted with such scorching, vibrant intensity that one can only regret that ENO hasn’t cast her for its production of this opera in the autumn.
Moving into the third act without a second interval, Gwaltney went on to sing “Ch’ella me creda” with touching ardour: the part may be too big for him at this early stage of his career, but he gave it everything he’s got and he and Glanville created a wonderful golden glow for the opera’s sunset ending.
Alas, Barlow’s production undermined the mood with some glibly amusing gimmicks that provoked sniggers: Minnie rides in on a motorbike to rescue Dick from the gallows, and the couple embark on their new life via a TWA flight.
Ironising this opera’s sincerity and turning it into a slice of quaint camp is a bad strategy: why are directors today so afraid of good old bodice-ripping melodramatic romance?
Until June 21. Tickets: 0300 999 1000; operahollandpark.com