Music

Il Trovatore, Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Keith Bruce

four stars

Verdi's operatic Spanish melodrama is the choice of few directors because its relentless gloomy melodrama is inherently un-theatrical and the score, full of fine music though it is, pretty determinedly of the stand-there-and-sing-variety. So Martin Lloyd-Evans revision of Mark Brickman's aged Scottish Opera staging, now well over 20 years old, is all the work needs, in its stark simplicity. The pauses between scenes for the re-shaping of the imposing pillars that make up the set have apparently been shortened by his decision to use a little less of the structure, but the difference in tone of this revival is more down to the way he and Kally Lloyd-Jones move the chorus around, particularly the men. This troupe of reluctant soldiers are clearly far from up for a fight until the call to arms in Act Three, and their stumbling and shuffling from curtain up puts the grimness of the tale of burned witches and infant boys in some sort of lighter context.

Lloyd-Evans's previous job at Scottish Opera was the long tour in partner ship with the D'Oyly Carte company of Pirates of Penzance and there is something of a dark flip side of Gilbert and Sullivan to his approach to a story that lets the audience in on the reveal from the start and leaves the main characters to flounder in miserable ignorance for the opera's duration.

That chorus, under the direction of Susannah Wapshott, is very good indeed, and has some of the finest melodies of course, and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, conducted by Tobias Ringborg, plays as well as it has all season. Perhaps a little full-on early in the opening night, Ringborg subsequently achieved a near-perfect balance between pit and stage.

There is excellence across the cast too, with Clare Rutter expertly pacing her Leonora until the later set-pieces, and Anne Mason making the most of the early limelight as Azucena, arguably the real villain of the piece. Gwyn Hughes Jones makes a terrific Scottish Opera debut as Manrico and company favourite Roland Wood is a wonderfully permanently discombobulated young Count di Luna.

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