The Snow Maiden

Opera North

Leeds Grand Theatre

Saturday 21st January 2017

The tyranny of winter has gripped this land in Tsarist Russia for sixteen years. Only the sacrifice of Snegurochka (the Snow Maiden) will appease the Sun God and allow Spring to arrive. Rimsky Korsakov's lavish Russian folk opera is based on Alexander Ostrovsky's 1873 fairy tale. The opera is staple fare in Russian Theatres; but save for the famous orchestral showpiece, Dance of the Tumblers, is scarcely known in the west.

Sadlers Wells staged The Snow Maiden back in 1954 with Elsie Morison in the title role. Over sixty years on, director John Fulljames has re-fashioned the Snow Maiden herself from the magical fairy of the original story into a universal adolescent who struggles with, and ultimately overcomes emotional repression in this brand new production for Opera North. Only in the last Act, when Snegurochka exchanges her factory worker's tabard for a magnificent bridal gown that looks as if made from ice crystals, did I get any sense of Ostrovsky's original fairy tale. Snegurochka's all consuming love for Mizgir, a rich trader, causes her to melt; a distraught Mizgir is left clutching the empty gown.

Fulljames' pursuit of universality sometimes feels like an uneasy fusion of past and present in which Tsarist finery and traditional Russian folk costumes mingle with denim jeans, sports tops and sneakers.

There is, however, magic aplenty and clever stagecraft in Fulljames' production. Lighting designer Matthew Haskins and Video designer Will Duke certainly cast a spell as we see giant snowflakes falling, plants unfurling and sun flowers bursting open. Choreographer Lucy Hind has turned the principals and nearly fifty strong Chorus of Opera North into an aninated all-singing and dancing troupe.

The vocal agility and purity of tone of Irish soprano Aoife Miskelly creates an appealing and vulnerable Snow Maiden. Australian baritone Phillip Rhodes is a powerful and ultimately tragic Mizgir; their final scene is deeply moving. Welsh soprano Elin Pritchard is in dramatic voice as the vodka-swilling Kupava who is jilted by Mizgir. Mezzo Heather Lowe sings wonderfully and brings an appealing swagger to the trouser role of Lel, the shepherd boy besotted with Snegurochka. Mezzo Yvonne Howard and bass James Creswell both excel as Spring Beauty and Father Frost, Snegurochka's parents.

Rimsky's gorgeous score shimmers and sparkles in the sensitive hands of conductor Leo McFall at the helm of the Orchestra of Opera North.

The Snow Maiden continues in repertory with Rossini's Cinderella and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel at Leeds Grand Theatre until 25th February.

Geoffrey Mogridge