ORW-L (live stream), 28/01/2023

Bellini : La sonnambula

Chorus & Orchestra of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège

Giampaolo Bisanti

This was an interesting case of a revival of a production that never actually got its initial run.  This new production of La sonnambula was originally programmed for the spring of 2020, and got as far as the dress rehearsal, but not the first night.  Three years later, and with a change of programmed conductor and principal soprano, it finally gets an outing.

The production is by Belgian filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael and his wife, choreographer Michèle Anne De May, and the result is a dance-intensive show of the type I've been more used to seeing from OBV in Antwerp.  It's not a bad opera to do this with; La sonnambula is not exactly plot-heavy, and as a semi-seria opera, it lacks both the punch of a tragedy and the spark of a comedy, which fuel dramatic intensity.  What it does have going for it is Bellini's glorious gift for melody.  Van Dormael and De Mey have therefore (more or less) ended up presenting a semi-staged concert version of the music, allowing the singers to focus on vocal performance, with a next level of interpretation furnished by the dancers, and their interaction with video scenography.  

There was no scenery to speak of.  Chairs to either side were set for the chorus, which remained largely static in consequence, and there was an area to the front of the stage for the soloists to move around in.  All were in simple, modern dress, mostly in neutral colours.  The main area, however, was occupied by a dance stage, a black square edged with light, in which a sprung floor of variable rigidity was set.  Nine dancers, representing the six solo roles, evolved in a blend of modern dance and circus acrobatics, interacted with frequently ingenious video projections to create a dream-like echo of the on-stage situations.  Forward and overhead cameras provided additional special effects, such as infra-red or time-lapse photography.  The trampolining in Act 2 made me faintly queasy (though that might not have happened in-house) and apart from the opportunity to show off some tumbling, I didn't much see the point of it.  There were some other moments that I felt were inadvertently comic, rather than deliberately so, much of the first scene of Act 2 in particular.  However, there were also moments that produced a beautiful, ethereal effect, notably during the exchange of vows in Act 1, and during the Sleepwalking Scene at the end.  

La sonnambula, Act 1.i,
Right of centre Jessica Pratt (Amina), Benoit Delvaux (A notary) and René Barbera (Elvino)
(© 2023, ORW-Liège - J. Berger)

As productions went, it was at least visually absorbing and readily legible, and if the dancers irritated you, it was not difficult to focus on the singers.  Musically, the one downside of this type of production was the neutering of the chorus, which sang well, but never really seemed implicated in the action, despite being in costume, because of their relegation to the sides.  The orchestra, on the other hand, under the direction of its newest Music Director, Giampaolo Bisanti, provided subtle and stylish support.  

All of the soloists were excellent, comfortable with the bel canto idiom, singing well and expressively, but the central couple of Jessica Pratt and René Barbera were pure gold, with effortless command of the vocal ornamentation and high notes, flawless dynamic control, and silken timbres, a real joy to hear.  In an opera such as this, which exists principally as a showcase for beautiful singing, it is important to deliver on that point, and that, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie did, admirably.

[Next : 12th February]