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ROH Don Carlo


Scheherezade

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After the high profile cancellations from Stoyanova and Tezier, I went along to the opening night with some trepidation. The curse of Don Carlo led to yet another cancellation slip announcing that Jette Parker Young Artist Emily Edmonds was also indisposed. It was, therefore, not unsurprising that the evening took a little while to warm up but if the acting chops and chemistry of the leads wasn't always apparent, I was, overall, pleasantly surprised by the vocal performances. Less so, it has to be said, for the watering down of the auto-da-fe scene which has no impact whatsoever now that the heretics just shuffle off the stage instead of being burnt. If changes had to be made, how about replacing the awful lego sets?

 

Bryan Hymel has, of course, appeared many times at the ROH but his previous form left me totally unprepared for the vocal passion that he injected into last night's performance. It was much appreciated by the audience and garnered lots of 'bravi' from the amphi audience. Christoph Pohl made a fine Rodrigo, whose integrity shone like a beacon, and he and Hymel delivered a well-matched and meaningful 'Dio che nell'alma'. I always enjoy Semenchuk and her Princess Eboli chalked up another success and Kristin Lewis' Elizabeth noticeably grew in confidence as the evening went on.

 

In recent years, Philip II at the ROH has largely been the preserve of Ferruccio Furlanetto. If Ildar Abdrazakov didn't quite match his imposing dignity, his performance marked the tragic emotional impotence of a powerful man who is the victim of his own rank. The Grand Inquisitor was the weakest link, with shaky vocals in parts and a failure to suggest the terrifying presence that comes with the territory but it wasn't necessary for the man sitting behind me to chant that he should have retired.

 

The chorus and the orchestra were both on great form and the entire cast received well-deserved and lengthy applause from the amphi audience although I can't speak for the expensive seats downstairs. It would be interesting to hear what anyone else thinks who attends later in the run.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was there last night, with a different, rather fine, Posa (he didn't look the right age but made a lovely sound). The orchestra played exceptionally well for BdB, who found many unexpected shadings in what is one of Verdi's finest scores. There was an odd miscue of the offstage choir at one point, but otherwise things went off ok. I was glad to be there. 

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42 minutes ago, capybara said:

Did anyone on here experience the debacle at the ROH yesterday afternoon (Mon 29th May)?

 

 

 

From what I hear from those who attended and enjoyed, I don't think debacle is the correct word.  The leading lady was taken to hospital suddenly and with no cover available, the remaining cast did a concert of highlights and all patrons received a refund.  These things happen and it sounds like ROH dealt with it in a decent manner

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One of my friends was there, he was incandescent with rage that RO, doesn't have understudies.  The fact that it was a matinee makes it worse as  I imagine a lot of opera goers from outside London were there.  Twice in the past year or so I've had the experience of a singer losing her voice and miming while another singer sang the role from the side of the stage.  Obviously this occasion was different, but not to have someone on standby is inexcusable.  

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2 hours ago, capybara said:

Did anyone on here experience the debacle at the ROH yesterday afternoon (Mon 29th May)?

 

 

 

I was there and, as bangorballetboy has already said, it was anything but a debacle. I agree that it’s surprising that there was no understudy but, in the circumstances, I thought that they dealt with the situation extremely well.  Most of the audience seemed to understand how difficult it was for the company and there was prolonged applause after it was announced that there would be, not only a full refund, but also 80 minutes of highlights of the opera..

 

The performance then began with the cast in full costume and makeup. Highlights from Acts 1 and 2 were sung in front of a backcloth.  We then had more or less the whole of Act 3 with the entire cast of soloists and chorus (with a stand-in for a non-singing Elisabetta) and sets as well as costumes, i.e. this act was fully staged.  Although there was nothing from the last two acts, the performance was very well received by the audience. Indeed the applause was still continuing when  I left the House quite some time after the end of Act 3..

Edited by Bluebird
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I was there and had travelled. 

 

In one sense it wasn't a debacle, in another it certainly was.  While I enjoyed what was provided and think that those present on the day couldn't have done more, it doesn't excuse the RO's recklessness in not having cover for the role. This is a major international opera house and Don Carlos is a major opera. I believe this isn't the first time they've taken such a risk; I hope this very expensive episode might cause a re-think: like BA, maybe they are now discovering that resilient systems are only a luxury until they are needed. One also wonders what the YAP singers are there for, if not to jump in on such occasions.

 

I felt very sorry for the young lady who had to make the announcement (I think she might have been the Acting Company Manager). Maybe I have been spoiled by KO'H's presence on RB nights, but I was surprised that no-one more senior was present to explain the situation. She explained that it was very difficult to find another singer for such a difficult role at that kind of notice, to which the obvious reply would be "well, that's why it's customary to have cover."

 

One other unexplained mystery is the choice of excerpts, all of were from Acts 1 to 3. It was a shame that we thus missed out on two of the most famous arias. This is not to criticise Bertrand de Billy or the singers, but I'd be surprised to learn that, for example, Semenchuk was reluctant to sing O don fatale.

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I was there too.  Disappointed in particular that (a) I hadn't already seen it this time round, given that it was the last performance in the run and normally I'd have seen it sooner, and (b) that they didn't manage to do any of Act 4, which (with reference to Lizbie above) in fact contains three of the most famous arias - Philip's, Eboli's, and Posa's death scene, as well as the great duet between Philip and the Grand Inquisitor, none of which individually involve the character of Elisabetta.

 

There was also a rather weird moment at the end of Act 3 when a staff director, in costume, walked the role of Elisabetta for a few minutes to enable the auto-da-fe scene to go on, but with the vocal part missing - the top line of the ensemble begging mercy for the Flemish deputies, and one or two individual lines.  I didn't know I knew the part so well until it wasn't there!

 

While they would have had contingency plans should somebody have been taken ill with even a little more notice, it's simply unfortunate that the emergency happened only an hour before the show, and at a matinee on a Bank Holiday.  And that it was a role which wouldn't have been appropriate for any of the current crop of Young Artists to cover (edited to add: Lizbie1, your theory re YAs is all very well, but which of the current Young Artists would you put on as Elisabetta? All the current sopranos are lighter than required...) - some may recall a similar situation last year when a sudden illness laid claim at similarly short notice to both the soprano and tenor for a performance of La traviata, but in that case the show was able to proceed normally, as Vlada Borovko on the young artists' programme had fully covered the role of Violetta, and Charles Castronovo (who's done the production several times in the past) was in the house rehearsing for Lucia di Lammermoor and was able to step into the role of Alfredo.

 

I ended up in the pub, with multiple friends from the chorus and extra chorus as well as several of the cast, and I don't believe I am breaking any of the rules of this forum when I say that nobody seemed to have any additional gossip/conspiracy-theory fodder about the situation at all (of course if they had, I'd be breaking forum rules by posting it, but I assure you they did not).  It was an unfortunate situation, which the house dealt with in an imperfect fashion when perhaps no perfect solution could have been reasonably planned for.

Edited by RuthE
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7 minutes ago, RuthE said:

...And that it was a role which wouldn't have been appropriate for any of the current crop of Young Artists to cover (edited to add: Lizbie1, your theory re YAs is all very well, but which of the current Young Artists would you put on as Elisabetta? All the current sopranos are lighter than required...) - 

 

My suggestion is rather that either the RO needs to become less reliant on the YAP for cover or the programme's line-up should be better planned if, as you point out, it only contains lyric sopranos. I am aware that the heavier voices take time and investment and seldom arrive fully formed, but surely given that there is no upper age limit (I've just checked!) this is exactly what such programmes are for: to nurture the more unusual and, yes, valuable voice types. I'm a great lover of the lyric soprano voice, and am very impressed with at least two of the current YA cohort, but it is a very abundant voice type!

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31 minutes ago, RuthE said:

 

There was also a rather weird moment at the end of Act 3 when a staff director, in costume, walked the role of Elisabetta for a few minutes to enable the auto-da-fe scene to go on, but with the vocal part missing - the top line of the ensemble begging mercy for the Flemish deputies, and one or two individual lines.  I didn't know I knew the part so well until it wasn't there!

 

 

Yes, that was most odd - I wondered whether one or two of the chorus should have been asked to fill in the gaps, or is that not done? It was crying out for that top line!

 

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Incidentally, I remember years ago it being said that Don Carlos was the better version, yet the RO has only given Don Carlo in recent years.  Does anyone know why this is?  I loved Don Carlos when I saw it, and would greatly appreciate the chance to reacquaint myself with it.

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I  regret to say that I don't think that the Royal Opera is an opera company of real international stature in the way that the Met, La Scala, Vienna and Munich are, and it has not been for some years. Its current status is the result of the Music Director's personal musical likes and dislikes; his abilities as a conductor;  the employment of an increasing numbers of singers who seem to come from the bargain basement and Mr Holten's valiant efforts on the directorial front.

 

I am not convinced that Holten's replacement is going to be much better as from what I have read it would seem that the young man in question gained his experience in the world of opera working on small scale productions in Northern Ireland and was deemed too inexperienced to be employed by ENO. I sincerely trust that this is a wholly inaccurate account of his operatic CV  but an Oxbridge degree, experience working on small scale opera productions, the belief that all productions need to be relevant to the audience plus a reported antipathy to the works of Britten does not exactly fill me with optimism about the likelihood of improvements in the quality of what is served up by the Royal Opera.

 

I don't suppose that the drop in the value of the pound is going to assist matters as far as casting is concerned . I think that we can look forward to more trips to the bargain basement interspersed with the odd celebrity singer circus  occasioned by a new co-production which enables even those who attend opera at Covent Garden to  experience the international stars whose services the opera house only seems able to secure with the promise of a new production or a sort of international package deal during which the same stars appear together at the houses which have bought into it. 

 

As to the choice which has been made between the original French version and the Italian version of Verdi's treatment of Schiller's play I imagine that the reason we are getting Don Carlo rather than Don Carlos is attributable to the music director's taste or lack thereof and the fact that, in theory at least, the Italian version is easier to cast because it is in more singers' repertory than the French one is.

 

 Sir Tony has seen fit to stage a number of second rate Italian operas during his tenure including  Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, Giordano's one aria opera Andrea Chenier and that jolly little double bill of domestic violence and murder Cav and Pag.  Meanwhile we have recently had no Britten except that ghastly production of Gloriana staged for the composer's centenary which treated the opera as a village hall pageant.

 

 Instead of exploring the highways and byways of the more obscure aspects of the late nineteenth century Italian repertory which is not normally seen outside the peninsula, and there is usually good reason for that level of obscurity, or "enjoying" our annual ration of umpteen performances of La Traviata, we could be exploring the twentieth century repertory,early Verdi and Don Carlos. the French  version.of Verdi's great opera which is indeed much better than the Italian one.

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23 hours ago, FLOSS said:

I  regret to say that I don't think that the Royal Opera is an opera company of real international stature in the way that the Met, La Scala, Vienna and Munich are, and it has not been for some years. Its current status is the result of the Music Director's personal musical likes and dislikes; his abilities as a conductor;  the employment of an increasing numbers of singers who seem to come from the bargain basement and Mr Holten's valiant efforts on the directorial front.

 

I am not convinced that Holten's replacement is going to be much better as from what I have read it would seem that the young man in question gained his experience in the world of opera working on small scale productions in Northern Ireland and was deemed too inexperienced to be employed by ENO. I sincerely trust that this is a wholly inaccurate account of his operatic CV  but an Oxbridge degree, experience working on small scale opera productions, the belief that all productions need to be relevant to the audience plus a reported antipathy to the works of Britten does not exactly fill me with optimism about the likelihood of improvements in the quality of what is served up by the Royal Opera.

 

I don't suppose that the drop in the value of the pound is going to assist matters as far as casting is concerned . I think that we can look forward to more trips to the bargain basement interspersed with the odd celebrity singer circus  occasioned by a new co-production which enables even those who attend opera at Covent Garden to  experience the international stars whose services the opera house only seems able to secure with the promise of a new production or a sort of international package deal during which the same stars appear together at the houses which have bought into it. 

 

As to the choice which has been made between the original French version and the Italian version of Verdi's treatment of Schiller's play I imagine that the reason we are getting Don Carlo rather than Don Carlos is attributable to the music director's taste or lack thereof and the fact that, in theory at least, the Italian version is easier to cast because it is in more singers' repertory than the French one is.

 

 Sir Tony has seen fit to stage a number of second rate Italian operas during his tenure including  Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, Giordano's one aria opera Andrea Chenier and that jolly little double bill of domestic violence and murder Cav and Pag.  Meanwhile we have recently had no Britten except that ghastly production of Gloriana staged for the composer's centenary which treated the opera as a village hall pageant.

 

 Instead of exploring the highways and byways of the more obscure aspects of the late nineteenth century Italian repertory which is not normally seen outside the peninsula, and there is usually good reason for that level of obscurity, or "enjoying" our annual ration of umpteen performances of La Traviata, we could be exploring the twentieth century repertory,early Verdi and Don Carlos. the French  version.of Verdi's great opera which is indeed much better than the Italian one.

 

BS

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MAB,

The most obvious meaning of your pithy comment about my recent post suggests that you believe that I have completely failed to recognise the artistic quality of what the Royal Opera has been serving up during Pappano's time at the helm.Now I am all in favour of innovative productions which actually tell me something about the opera which  I have been told that the director is staging but I am not a great  fan of the sort of radical rewriting or rearranging of the action which produces the work which the director believes the librettist and composer should have created Have I imagined the extraordinary number of dud productions which have been staged or the dubious quality of some of the singers such as the cast who appeared in the last revival of Il tabarro? Perhaps I have been attending opera performances at Covent Garden in a sort of parallel universe.

 

I have to say that I find the next opera season incredibly dull and while the ballet programme looked almost as dull when it was published it has been considerably improved by the casting which has been announced for the first booking period and presumably it will continue to improve in that way as the season progresses and further details about casting emerge.Unfortunately that is not going to happen with the opera season.

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On 5/31/2017 at 11:35, FLOSS said:

I  regret to say that I don't think that the Royal Opera is an opera company of real international stature in the way that the Met, La Scala, Vienna and Munich are, and it has not been for some years......

That opinion may be right but I have a bit of trouble with some of the supporting arguments. For example, Pappano's alleged penchant for "second rate Italian operas". In the last two seasons, Adriana Lecouvreur has been given in Paris and Vienna; Andrea Chenier in Vienna and Munich; Manon Lescaut at the Met, Vienna and Munich and Cav & Pag at the Met and Paris. So it seems a taste for the second-rate is shared by companies of "real international stature".

The performance of "Don Carlo" rather than "Don Carlos" is first attributed to Pappano's "musical taste or lack thereof", whereas the reality is that Covent Garden is firmly in the current mainstream: the Met has Hytner's production and Vienna also performs "Don Carlo". Significantly "Don Carlo" is even the preferred version given in Paris, with the French version given only a rare occasional outing. It's likely that singer preference and convenience is the reason for this - as well perhaps as audience expectations. 

Vienna has many positives but, apart from the permanent Ensemble, singers tend to land, dress, sing, leave.. so that there's a risk of getting no more than a concert performance in costumes without much dramatic engagement. (There's often more operatic "theatre" these days at the Theater an der Wien)

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  • 6 years later...

I've just received an offer for this (selected performances?) of this production.  As stated above, I far prefer the French version, but is the Italian worth seeing?  The ROH website appears to be having a bit of a fit again, so despite my having put the code in I think I'm still getting full prices showing - at least, I hope they're full prices, since they're already quite eyewatering enough!

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Having just seen the dress rehearsal, I would encourage everyone to go to at least one night of this. The cast (unlike Trovatore) does not have a weak link, although there are of course finer casts in one's memories, on recordings etc. 

 

The orchestra plays excitingly under that conductor. And even the production (one or two sillinesses aside) looks good and to my eyes is particularly atmospherically lit this time round. So on the grounds that it is not often that that all comes together as a team effort, you should have a very good time. 

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23 hours ago, alison said:

I've just received an offer for this (selected performances?) of this production.  As stated above, I far prefer the French version, but is the Italian worth seeing?  The ROH website appears to be having a bit of a fit again, so despite my having put the code in I think I'm still getting full prices showing - at least, I hope they're full prices, since they're already quite eyewatering enough!

Ooh, do you mind disclosing what the discount is and which performances, Alison? As usual, they haven’t sent me anything (despite booking three shows for this booking period) although I now have two friends who would/might be interested in buying tickets and coming along had the offer been sent to me. I haven’t seen this production yet (tickets are for the last part of the run) but since they haven’t contacted me, I think my friends might pick the Glyndebourne production of Dialogues des Carmelites or the LSO Paradise & the Peri instead......

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5 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Ooh, do you mind disclosing what the discount is and which performances, Alison? As usual, they haven’t sent me anything (despite booking three shows for this booking period) although I now have two friends who would/might be interested in buying tickets and coming along had the offer been sent to me. I haven’t seen this production yet (tickets are for the last part of the run) but since they haven’t contacted me, I think my friends might pick the Glyndebourne production of Dialogues des Carmelites or the LSO Paradise & the Peri instead......

 

The offer wasn't sent to me as I already have tickets but a friend has forwarded the offer to me:

 

Don Carlo

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With opening night right around the corner, we have got an exclusive offer for you: Get 25% off tickets on select performances using the promocode VERDI25.

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3. Choose your tickets (offer does not apply to boxes).

 

 

 
Edited by Bluebird
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This was really very good last night. My first time seeing Lise Davidsen and she was amazing, she can go really loud 😄. I loved Yulia Matochkina as Princess Eboli, beautiful voice and lovely stage presence, probably the most emotionally involving of the characters for me.

Thanks for recommending this Geoff and Scheherezade (and I got the 25% off 👍).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Many thanks to @Geoff for the review and to @Bluebird for the voucher! We changed our dates in the end to avoid the debacle with night time trains (they left us stranded in the middle of nowhere last week after Werther) and caught today’s Sunday matinee instead, and one friend could make it so we upgraded our seating with the aid of the voucher. 

 

I knew Lise Davidsen would be great after catching her Leonora/Fidelio just before Boris Johnson closed the theatres due to the pandemic, but she even exceeded expectations today. Such power, subtlety, control... what incredible vocal virtuosity and that way she manages to convey emotion in a whisper that still reaches the back row....wowzer. I don’t like saying the next so-and-so, but she is the phenomenon of our times the way Callas and Joan Sutherland were in their day. Her acting is sensitive and looks natural - you truly believed in her and rejoiced with her when she fell in love with Carlos, and felt her anguish and heartbreak as she was taken away to be Philip’s bride.

 

So nice to see a traditional style production (elegant designs from Bob Crowley) after enduring some jarring “concept” productions at ROH eg La Forza del Destino, Samson et Dalila, Fidelio etc etc - thank you Nicholas Hytner. As others have noted, this is a strong, impressive cast, and the orchestra played beautifully under the baton of Maestro Bertrand de Billy (impressive feat considering it’s 3hours 25minutes of conducting, if you don’t count the two intervals- quite a marathon!) Brian Jagde and Luca Micheletti also stood out for me as a charismatic, dashing Carlos and his loyal friend Rodrigo, as did John Relya as Philip. Bravi to them all! It was good to see ticket sales picking up nearer the date (the production was understandably pricey given its length and large cast of soloists) as nobody should miss the phenomenal Davidsen. The discount applied to amphi seats as well, but we decided to treat ourselves and sit closer. This is one of those “if you only see one thing this year” productions (and cast).

Edited by Emeralds
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14 hours ago, Emeralds said:

So nice to see a traditional style production (elegant designs from Bob Crowley) after enduring some jarring “concept” productions at ROH eg La Forza del Destino, Samson et Dalila, Fidelio etc etc

 

Is Forza a ghastly one? I was considering it for the autumn, as Radvanovsky's singing Leonora.

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4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Is Forza a ghastly one? I was considering it for the autumn, as Radvanovsky's singing Leonora.

I wouldn’t call it ghastly the way some call the Kosky Carmen and several other productions ghastly  (although a new Carmen by Damiano Michieletto is on the way). But the concept that I thought was jarring was that Christof Loy had the singers and actors for the next act rushing in the end of every act to intrude upon the finale of the act as it was ending. It looked particularly awful when they rushed in while Leonora’s father was dying, and almost tripped over him, as though “A dying man? What is he doing here....how inconvenient.” There were also some oddities in set design choices, and a few bits you either find odd or don’t mind too much.

 

His style is also evident in his staging of the ENO Tosca (have a look at the 2022 reviews from newspaper websites) too, but he didn’t repeat the same gimmicks/concepts. Both are not bad enough for me to boycott the productions and I still enjoyed the performances of Kaufmann & Monastyrska in Forza, and Campbell-Wallace & Smith in Tosca, very very much (I hope the Royal Opera will cast Sinead Campbell-Wallace and Adam Smith in something soon....they are incredible and superstars in the making). I like Sondra Radvanovsky and I think it’s worth seeing it for her alone. 

Edited by Emeralds
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I very much enjoyed last night’s performance and echo the plaudits for the soloists, chorus and orchestra under Bertrand de Billy’s sympathetic conductorship. I thought Brian Jagde (Don Carlos) needed a bit of time to warm up but he certainly impressed in the latter Acts. Lise Davidsen (Elizabeth of Valois) was astonishingly good, one of those singers with a thrilling voice who absolutely commands the stage. I was hugely impressed by John Relyea (Philip II) - his Act 4 opening solo was wonderful and set the tone for a compelling study scene.  Luca Micheletti (Rodrigo) and Yulia Matochkina (Eboli) more than held their own. They all made for a fabulous quintet of principals who were well supported by Taras Shtonda (Grand Inquisitor) and Alexander Köpeczi (Carlos V). Shout out too for Sarah Dufresne (Voice from Heaven) - a very apt description.

 

I had hoped to be more impressed with the production. I thought the interior scenes worked best, Carlos V’s tomb, and Philip’s study. But the exterior scenes didn't seem as strong - Fontainebleau, the gardens, and I’m afraid the Act 3 auto-da-fe. In the latter scene there just seemed to be a very odd mix of styles and, despite the extra chorus, there was so much empty space on the stage. That said I thought it highly effective for the cast to be looking at the audience when the ‘celebrations’ commenced and the Voice of Heaven was stunning. I also found the front ‘curtain/structure with square windows’ being lowered between scenes and action continuing in front not a great help, for example Rodrigo’s body being carried off.

 

 

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