Verdi's La Traviata at the Royal Opera House

Dear fab friends,

I was quite thrilled to see the Royal Opera House's latest staging of La Traviata, Guiseppe Verdi's most famous opera.  There is something captivating, albeit tragic, about an ill-fated love between a Parisian courtesan and a young bourgeois.  Could such true love exist?

For this year's ROH production, the role of the 'fallen woman', Violetta Valéry, is played by the soprano Marina Poplavskaya.  How she compares with previous divas who possessed the role before her - among them Anna Netrebko, Ermonela Jaho, Renée Fleming and Angela Gheorghiu - I shall never know, but am quite impressed by Poplavskaya's Violetta.  This Russian soprano delivers rich and dramatic vocals while nailing brilliantly the coloratura.  And she can act too, convincing as a high-class tart in the earlier scenes and moving as a dying Violetta in the later acts.  It helps of course that she is gifted with a beautiful face to start with, making her more believable as a courtesan.

The young lover, Alfredo Germont, is played by the good-looking American tenor James Valenti.  I must admit this diva has developed a growing crush on Valenti - tall, masculine, vibrant and possessing of an elegant voice.  It is perfectly imaginable why such a courtesan would fall in love with this man to the point of totally abandoning her old lifestyle (sigh!).  Although Valenti is deeply pleasing to the eyes and ears (and perhaps more, who knows!), his acting somehow lacked the much-needed drama and emotionality, especially towards Violetta.  The chemistry between the lovers is unfortunately absent.

The veteran Italian baritone, Leo Nucci, plays Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont.  Nucci's voice is quite strong and powerful (too much in some occasions though), drawing loud applause from the audience.  However, his acting was sadly ordinary.  The role of Giorgio calls for a delicate balance between the manipulative and dignified.  Nucci was fine being chillingly cold on being the former, but failed to be convincing on the latter.

One other remarkable thing about this production is the the beautifully designed sets.  How I loved the luxurious casino set in Act II, with a massive circular bronze lamp that hangs centrally on stage.  Or the gigantic blank mirror in the final act towering above the dying Violetta.

So is this production well-worth watching?  To see Poplavskaya's outstanding performance, as well as the beautiful sets, is worthwhile.  But the rest seems to be a bit unsatisfying, unless you too get trapped under the irresistible spell of Valenti.


Yours,

La Dolce Vita


Links:
Royal Opera House
La Traviata
Guiseppe Verdi
Marina Poplavskaya
James Valenti
Leo Nucci