An anticipated tumult of boos and bravi met Claus Guth and his team - including conductor, Jean-Christophe Spinosi - at the end of this well-nigh four-hour Theater an der Wien L’incoronazione di Poppea co-production with Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Plucked from anything other than tradition, Guth’s characters are here transplanted into the realm (staging, Christian Schmidt) of a 3rd rate TV game-show with an illuminated world map as a backdrop to represent the (potential) empire. The revolving stage allows much of the action to take place off the decaying studio set, and introduces features such as Nerone’s somewhat tatty 1970’s Cadillac sporting “1001 ROMA” plates, a sleazy casting couch for Nerone and Poppea’s tryst, and and a typical backstage dressing table from which Ottavia can plan her revenge while alternating between cigarette holder and powder puff. 

Fortuna, Virtù, and Amor interact in celestial white outfits (the latter manipulating the protagonists and sporting little cupid wings reminiscent of Guth’s creation in his recent Salzburg Festival Figaro).

In the pit, unconventional aspects too prevail - with a boosting in some of the instrumentation, a twin set of Continuo, and a combination of (effectively atmospheric) partly-acoustic/partly-electronic soundscapes by Christina Bauer (again, an echo of a similar Guth practice employed in this Summer’s Salzburg Fidelio) as a scene-bridging technique.  The dominant staging almost distracted from the voluptuous-sounding and intensely driven Ensemble Matheus.

The large cast was unanimously vital, well balanced, and finely sculpted.

Nerone - here, youthfully modest in physique and introvertly-eccentric - is taken by Romanian countertenor Valer Sabadus. His pure and warmly-tinted timbre generally served the role well, if possibly a notch underpowered at times for some of the more dramatic outbursts.

Alex Penda’s Poppea took a little time to warm up vocally - with her tone remaining  somewhat brittle and lacking in seductive quality. However her slinky physical attributes and hard-nosed intensity certainly left no doubt as to the character’s burning ambition - culminating in an overall interpretation to be reckoned with. 

Inebriating the unfortunate Ottavia helped camouflage Jennifer Larmore’s distressingly unsteady vocalism to some degree - as did the concept of portraying the jilted Queen as an ageing diva who could have appeared in many a Hollywood vintage reel. The glamorous American mezzo appeared to revel in the concept, and played it for all its worth.  

Franz-Josef Selig was wonderfully sympathetic and stoic Seneca, producing some of the finest singing of the evening.

Poppea and Ottavia’s nurses (Arnalta and Nutrice) were wonderful off-the-wall interpretations by Jose Manuel Zapata (camply shrill, and screeching his lines in a combination of baritone and falsetto to the audience’s great amusement), and the wonderfully subtle Marcel Beekman (a memorable Platée in this house) - here frumpy and bespectacled, and looking a touch like Mrs. Doubtfire in the film of that title. 

Christoph Dumaux’s metallic-coloured counter tenor warmed as the evening progressed, and he indeed cut a strongly touching figure as Ottone - possibly only disadvantaged by being one of the less idiosyncratic characters in the plot.

Sabina Puértolas’ finely sung and wildly frenetic Drusilla also left a strong impression, as did Emilie Renard’s captivatingly pubescent Valletto.

Fortuna was sweepingly taken by Frederikke Kampmann, with Natalia Kawalek and Jake Arditti as Virtù and Amor (both members of the Theater an der Wien Young Singers’ Ensemble) in no way subordinate to their more mature colleagues.

No happy end for this final production in Claus Guth’s Monteverdi trilogy at Theater an der Wien (following L’Orfeo in 2011 and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in 2012): 

Following the coronation, Nerone draws a pistol in slow motion - killing Poppea and then himself to bring down the curtain!