Review- La Traviata- More Than Musical
21-7-17
By Peter Gordon
“La Traviata” — More than Musical, ArtisTreeRedeploying opera in new formulas for new audiences can generate howls of protest from die-hard traditionalists, but it’s hard to see what is wrong with it in principle: in the theatre, this sort of thing is done all the time.
Hong Kong’s “More than Musical” debut production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata is targeted at those who might otherwise find grand opera too daunting, and it' s definitely the one to start with.
The tragic story of Violetta, Alfredo and his meddling father Giorgio Germont, is perennial: a courtesan (rendered rather more explicitly in this version)gives up everything for the man she loves, even the man himself, only to be discarded in turn. It has some of Verdi’s best music and one of the best-known duets in all opera.
The tragic story of Violetta, Alfredo and his meddling father Giorgio Germont, is perennial: a courtesan (rendered rather more explicitly in this version) gives up everything for the man she loves, even the man himself, only to be discarded in turn. It has some of Verdi’s best music and one of the best-known duets in all opera. The company has—in the pursuit of relevance, one supposes—reset the action close to the present: mobile phones, lines of coke, a gun and a briefcase of money make their appearance.By design and by practical necessity, both the production and the score were reduced.
Accompaniment consisted of a piano and violin. Some minor characters were excised (and some lines distributed to roles that remained) while Verdi’s choruses were entirely dispensed with. Some other scenes were also cut—at least in part due to dramatic necessity: they would not have made sense in the new context.
For those in the know, the net effect might have been more theatrical than operatic. The removal of orchestration and choruses changed the pacing and sensory depth of the work; plot and intimacy between characters and audience came to the fore.
The violin accompaniment was used to particularly fortuitous dramatic effect, acting very much as an additional voice. The violinist herself came on stage as a sort of spectre confronting Violetta, especially in the last Act in which she is dying. Opera-theatre rather than grand opera this may have been, but there was no scaling-down in the casting.
The three leads all sang with conviction and an Italianate expressiveness.Alfredo was Korean tenor Ji-Min Park, who has in recent years taken leading roles in with such companies as Opera Australia and Teatro la Fenice, making him by these standards something of a veteran. He has a clear, warm, young voice with a nice ping in the high notes. His father was sung by Seungwook Seong, also Korean, who possesses a sonorous baritone; his portrayal of an abrasive rather than priggish Germont was convincing if untraditional.
The find of the evening was Chinese soprano Lei Xu.
The whole result was very theatre-oriented, if not more than opera—there was considerably more actual character interaction than normal. Miss Lei held the intimate performing space in her palm singing beautifully.
Any operatic considerations aside, this must surely have been having been among the best evenings of theatre put on by a local Hong Kong company in quite some time.
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