Il Trovatore in London last night: lame

Oh well. Some you win, some you lose.

After the soaring brilliance of La Fille du Regiment, I came back to Earth with a bump at last night’s lame Covent Garden production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore.

There was some impassioned singing from Stephanie Blythe – what a big voice – and, especially, main man Marcelo Alvarez. But that’s about all you could say about this pedestrian gig.

Why Il Trovatore is so popular among opera buffs completely escapes me. It has some lovely music, OK. But very little dramatic structure - constant set changes spoil any flow it might have. The narrative is wayward. The songs appear as if from nowhere.

So directing Verdi’s “masterpiece” – it’s normally ranked alongside La Traviata and Rigoletto as the peak of the composer’s creativity - must be a hard call, but this production simply exposed the opera’s shortcomings.

The acting was notable by its absence; the final prison scene, with top gypsy girl, awaiting the stake, managing to snatch a last kip on the floor, in the midst of high drama, was risible. As a result, you felt nothing for any of the wretched characters or the denouement.

The orchestra – normally a highlight at Covent Garden – needed to be rather more assertive. I’m a big fan of Alvarez, but he needs to renew his gym membership or he could find the range of roles on offer dwindling rapidly - which would be a great pity for one of the great modern tenors.

If all operas were as dull as last night’s Il Trovatore, I'd have to reconsider my options.



Gerry Smith