Fidelio (Royal Opera 2020)

[penelopesimpson]

Excitement mounting for tomorrow.  I do hope Elvis (Jonas!) is in the building.....

[penelopesimpson]

He needn’t have bothered.

 

It started badly.  Man in suit ‘Unfortunately Mr. Jonas Kaufman has been feeling unwell but he insists on soldiering on.’ Groan from audience.

 

It got a lot worse.

 

First Act a bit ho-hum.  I liked the minimalist set but unfortunately the fluorescent square of light which framed the stage throughout proved heavy on the eyes as things went on.  Some sublime singing early on from Marcelino and her father et al and wonderful work from orchestra and chorus.

 

Lise Davidsen is a force of nature with a voice that could reach Norway and incredible pureness and clarity.  Essentially it is a Wagnerian voice which may or may not appeal.  She is tall and statuesque which made her convincing as Fidelio but less so as Leonore.  Her dramatic powers are not equal to her voice and she spent much of the performance stomping around the stage, apparently unsure what to do with her hands or feet.  There were moments of pure farce that prompted laughter from the stalls when she twice revealed herself as a woman by unbinding the bandages from her breasts.  Whoever thought of this manoeuvre should be shot and the person who thought it was a good idea to have her struggling out of her trousers on stage to reveal a cotton dress that looked like a peg bag, should be boiled in oil.  Nobody could complete this move with any dignity and for a large lady who dwarfed all around her to be subjected to this was ridiculous.

 

And what of Mr. Kaufmamnn?  Well, having already cast a pall over the audience by informing us he was unwell, when the curtain went up on Act 2 we understood why.  We were in a high-ceilinged Georgian drawing room whose only decoration was a pedimented door.  The chorus, wearing modern suits and ties and cocktail dresses were seated on two rows of chairs.  We had been catapulted to the twentieth century and were interrupting a Politburo meeting.  Centre stage was a large brown cow pat (we were later told this was a rock) on which a man who subsequently revealed himself as Jonas Kaufmann was chained.  He groaned a bit and rattled his shackles, his rags making it clear that he had been imprisoned for more than a century.  One was reminded of Victorian peep-shows when the audience paid sixpence to see the Elephant Man.

 

He sung a bit.  It was okay, but it could have been anyone.  We didn’t blame him, the set was so ridiculous that it was hard not to laugh.  Most of 'us didn’t hear much anyway because we were fixated on the video running as a backdrop.  Clearly it had symbolism but nobody I spoke to had any idea what.  There were Jezza and Emily Thornberry lookalikes and a bloke who could have been Graham Norton’s brother.  They looked anguished as they drank bottled water and ate crisps.  No, me neither.

 

Fidelio feeds bread and water to the poor sap on the rock without, apparently any recognition of him as her husband.  Florestan seems equally baffled, perturbed even, by this stranger and at no point is there any hint of a joyful reunion.  As pretty much the whole theme of Fidelio is lovers parted, this seems a curious omission. Still,  after a bit more sliding around on the cow pat, and a couple of  gun shots, a few soldiers arrive and it’s the moment of reckoning which is celebrated by Leonore taking her trousers off.  Right at the end we get them embracing but due to the height differential this was anything but romantic.

 

Maybe I don’t get out enough but this is the worst opera I have seen.  It was certainly the most expensive.  Okay, aesthetics are always subjective but the basics need to be right.  Beethoven made much of the central theme of darkness into light so how any designer mounting Fidelio can have prisoners singing about the joys of daylight when they are in pitch darkness is a mystery.  Similarly, it would have been the work of a moment to have Leonore standing on the floor whilst Florestan was on the rock so that looked more like lovers than mother and son.  These details do matter if the whole drama is to convince.  I think all new productions of ballet and opera should be put through an idiots test as it seems to me that the designers missed the basics that make Fidelio work.
 

I cannot imagine that the critics are going to be kind.  The audience reaction was lukewarm although Davidsen got applause.  I would say A for effort for her but this was not a performance that moved the audience.  
 

A lot of money and effort (South West Trains on a Sunday) and I wish I’d stayed home.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[JohnS]

Goodness - very sorry to read your post as I’m sure we all realise how much you were looking forward to this and all the problems over tickets. I was thinking of only going to the cinema relay but might not bother now. 

[penelopesimpson]

Thanks for thoughts a John.  There was a lot of giggling throughout the audience so it wasn’t only me.  There were a lot of German guests in the audience and the ones I spoke to were appalled.  I have just checked out the producers website which contains greT deal of psychobabble and much play on the word deconstruction.  I always groan watching  Masterchef when the contestants present us with a deconstructed trifle And I feel the same about this bloke.  I like new productions, revel in modernity, but today was pseuds corner.  The Telegraph review seems concerned about the staging but they are probably more generous to Lise Davidsen.  Yes, she was terrific but Zi prefer More emotional voices with degrees of subtlety.  Might be worth going to the cinema to have a look but Kaufmann did look unwell so he may pull out but honestly that shouldn’t make much difference.

[bridiem]

So sorry to read this, penelopesimpson - I was hoping you (and others!) would really enjoy it. And I'm not an opera person at all, but my sister has invited me to go to the live screening with her and I was keen to see it because of all the hype so I said yes. I will still look forward to the music/singing (and I hope Kaufmann revives), but the production does sound grim. (I see the Telegraph calls it 'silly'. How can a major opera house mount a production that is considered 'silly'?!).

[penelopesimpson]

Good question, Bridiem.  As I said before, stage effects are subjective. I liked the minimalism of Act 1 whereas my companion didn’t.  But you simply cannot sing Blessed is the light when the stage is pitch black.  Similarly, it’s only from reading the Telegraph that I gather the wives were passed severed heads - who knew?  And I was in the Stalls.  
 

Act 2 is so awful it is funny.  There is, perhaps, a case for bringing Fidelio into modern times as Johnathan Millar didwith Rigoletto.  But tonight we had contemporary chorus viewing a man in nineteenth century togs.  He could have been a Tracy Emin exhibit at Tate Modern for all the relevance it had.  Then we had this weird video running as a backdrop with people looking serious and munching crisps.  Then in comes Leonora striding around and, despite the neon lighting, apparently unable to recognise her husband.

 

i can’t share the rapture for Davidsen, maybe because by this time I was so jaundiced I just couldn’t appreciate anything.  She is fantastic and the voice is incredible and she is young.  But for me it’s all volume and she really can’t act for toffee.

 

We get all these achingly trendy philosophical designers these days which, in the main, is a good thing.  But they need someone with their feet on the ground who is not a paid-up luvvie to say No,that doesn’t make sense.  God knows how much money was spent onstage sets tonight, but no attention was paid to letting Leonore look half decent in a difficult role.  For heavy handedness I could hardly believe what I was seeing when Marcelino attempted to unbutton Fidelio’s flies.  
 

Well, I am out of pocket and out of humour tonight.  It was a seriously below par performance.  I would have expected more from Pappano.

 

 

[alison]

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

but the production does sound grim. (I see the Telegraph calls it 'silly'. How can a major opera house mount a production that is considered 'silly'?!).

 

From reviews I've read over the years, I think I'd answer "quite easily"  

[Geoff]

10 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

 Kaufmann did look unwell so he may pull out

 

Thank you for all your comments Penelope (this Forum always seems a better place when critical voices interrupt the cooing of ignorant fans) You are rightly cross and I hope Rupert C of the Telegraph is not the only reviewer to call this mess out. I would calibrate the wonderful Lise Davidsen slightly differently though: when someone sings that well I don’t notice looks or acting (Joan Sutherland? Birgit Nilsson? Jesse Norman? Montseratt Cabelle? I could go on) If we are really lucky, we were privileged yesterday to have been in early on the career of one of the truly great voices. 

 

As you were sitting much closer than I was, may I ask for a considered judgement about the “unwell”? Everyone in the business knows that “indisposed” can mean any number of very different things (for example in the case of one famous singer in Vienna - appropriately called Wiener - the whole city knew that when the stage team apologised for his “indisposition” it meant “drunk again”, and very funny it sometimes was too) It can for example mean simply, the singer asks you to understand that he is not going to be as good as he should be.

 

At the risk of upsetting Kaufmann fans - and not having seen JK close up yesterday - I offer a possible interpretation of yesterday’s “indisposed”, one which has been used before by other singers at other times. Might it be that JK, during rehearsals, discovered that this part does not suit where his voice has got to these days? So one rests (no need to sing the dress rehearsal), save what strength you have for the opening night, and then leave it to technology to create a tremendous impression during the all-important live transmission? 

 

Just because JK looked at death’s door, does not mean he is or was (he was after all acting Florestan). And in case you think this is unnecessarily unkind, or conspiratorial, or whatever, I have some evidence: a fan, eager to protect her idol from accusations of singing when he should be in bed, has posted a picture of the two of them together after the performance - with JK looking cheerful (and not ill) - captioned “Just a mild cold”.

 

What do you think, from your closer viewpoint? 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Geoff

[penelopesimpson]

Hi Geoff:

 

A good question and one I really can't answer.  I am a big Kaufmann fan.  I love his voice which resonates with emotion, he is a great actor and has wonderful charisma.  However, I was disappointed yesterday and found myself asking why it was necessary to make the announcement.  In my world you were either sick or you were not.  My friend and I had lunch in the Hamlyn Hall and were discussing this in the interval.  I felt the announcment was unnecessary as it had put a dampener on things.  A bit like the restaurant saying 'That chicken you're about to eat may be a bit naff but we'd killed and cooked the thing so if it makes you unwell, at least you were warned.'

 

The man at the next table entered the debate on the other side saying (a tad patronisingly) that singers value their voice (who knew?) and its important to them that the audience to know that they are not at their best.  A hard call.

 

To say somebody playing Florestan looked unwell is stating the obvious and they had really gone to town with Jonas who appeared to have acquired dreadlocks during his incarceration.  He looked pale but who wouldn't after a century under ground.  For me there was some obvious loss of vitality about his performance (again, could be the role) but I didn't feel he was on top form.  But frankly I would have sympathised if he'd taken one look at the set and caught the next plane out.  So, the jury is out on your question.  The Hall was being set up for an expensive patrons gala dinner which he was due to attend.  Maybe he wanted a get out - we will never know.

 

I would love to hear your impressions.  I agree with you about Ms. Davidsen but acting is important for my enjoyment.  If I want simply the voice, then I will see them in concert.  I thought she was completely wooden but the set left little room for interpretation and even less for any emotion. 

 

During rehearsals, was there really nobody with enough nous to say that the Orwellian set for Act 2 drained the production of any emotion?  That the wonderful moment of Leonore and Florestan being united was completely lost?  Essential, surely to Fidelio.  Do let me know your thoughts.

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by penelopesimpson

[Lizbie1]

 

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

At the risk of upsetting Kaufmann fans - and not having seen JK close up yesterday - I offer a possible interpretation of yesterday’s “indisposed”, one which has been used before by other singers at other times. Might it be that JK, during rehearsals, discovered that this part does not suit where his voice has got to these days? So one rests (no need to sing the dress rehearsal), save what strength you have for the opening night, and then leave it to technology to create a tremendous impression during the all-important live transmission?

 

I'm not an all-out JK fan but I saw him in Fidelio a year ago (in Munich) and thought it by far the best singing I'd heard from him.

[JohnS]

Thanks all. Having read Tim Ashley’s Guardian review I’ll go to the cinema relay. Good to have had the health warnings about the production and I see Radio 3 are broadcasting Fidelio on 28 March (must be a recording as that’s Francesca Hayward’s Swan Lake debut so I’ll catch up on BBC Sounds).

[penelopesimpson]

The reviews are better than expected.  I think the Arts Desk one sums it up best - devoid of emotion.

 

As we repeat ad nauseam, one man's meat and all that.... but I went to the opera yesterday to enjoy.  I had no thought of being critical, was willing to suspend much belief in order to have a great afternoon.  But should I really need to have absorbed every line of the programme before being able to remotely understand, let alone enjoy,  what was going on?

 

Statements like:

 

'His version of the libretto liberally changes the actions of the characters and adds new dialogue alongside extracts from plays on revolutionary themes by Büchner and Grillparzer. This is done in the name of “critical interrogation of the text.'

 

just make me want to say, Oh P-lease......  Even if you accept the point of view the director has taken, it is still badly executed and just, well, hideously awful.  I'll go with Broadway World:

 

 

As it is, though, Fidelio is an expensive muddle redeemed by one unstoppable performance.

Fidelio at the Royal Opera Hou

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by penelopesimpson

[Geoff]

3 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

I'm not an all-out JK fan but I saw him in Fidelio a year ago (in Munich) and thought it by far the best singing I'd heard from him.

 

Thanks Lizbie1, you are not alone in saying this: I was sorry not to be there. The two houses are a similar size, so the main difference might be the intervening year (which has not been unproblematic for JK).

 

Also, where were you sitting in Munich? As with Otello, JK's dynamic range might (these days) feel better when one is nearer (or, as I said above, when the voice is transmitted via a microphone). 

 

Or else, there is nothing much to say and his "mild cold" simply meant he just dialled everything down to play it safe and so he may yet reach great heights in later performances, which is what we all want. The sound was not unpleasant - hope no one thinks that - just less than one wants from Florestan, too safe, too quiet, and somehow not engaging. When I think back to his Parsifal... 

[Lizbie1]

2 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Also, where were you sitting in Munich? As with Otello, JK's dynamic range might (these days) feel better when one is nearer (or, as I said above, when the voice is transmitted via a microphone). 

 

I was fairly close but very much under an overhang. FWIW I was closer and without obstruction (lower slips near the stage) when I saw Forza a couple of months later and - though he was, as is his custom, singing more freely than usual for the live broadcast that night - he was certainly more comfortable in Fidelio.

 

It does occur me that Kaufmann may have found Kirill Petrenko's conducting in Munich more helpful than Pappano's. Pappano is a singer's conductor but I don't think anyone would consider him a Beethoven specialist.

[Lizbie1]

Just one other thing - a mild cold has in my experience just as much capacity to knock you sideways vocally as a heavy cold. Every cold is different!

[JohnS]

14 minutes ago, Geoff said:

just less than one wants from Florestan, too safe, too quiet

 
I’ll never forget Jon Vickers’ ‘Gott! welch Dunkel hier!’ - as if the entire audience were flung to the back wall.

[penelopesimpson]

Geoff - did you like the staging, would love your thoughts.

[Geoff]

2 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

Geoff - did you like the staging, would love your thoughts.

 

Well, I already called it a mess in my original reply to you, that's just about all I feel like saying (does it deserve more?) 

 

However there is one point I think worth adding, particularly as you have reserved your harshest comments for Act II. The director's misguided ideas lead him to one extraordinarily stupid moment (no spoilers but I am sure you can guess): the "new" plot he inserts makes it impossible to concentrate on "ich wanke nicht" which is, as a friend said to me, a crime against Beethoven.

[penelopesimpson]

Agreed.  And I cannot work out what he was trying to achieve by making this change.  

[Scheherezade]

Yikes! Well at least I will be prepared when I see this next week. 

[Fonty]

Penelope, I am very sorry to hear that you were so disappointed.  Would it help if I told you that your review made me laugh out loud?  I was in two minds whether to go to the live cinema relay, being a bit of a novice when it comes to opera.  I might go just to see how bad the staging actually is!

 

I had a sudden vision of a trendy new production of the Sleeping Beauty.  In order to keep it "real" and show the passing of time, while the original costumes are kept for the first acts,  Prince Florimund appears striding about in a pair of plus fours and a flat cap.  The final wedding scene sees the entire cast clad in some sort of modern dress, perhaps looking as if they are attending a Hercule Poirot cocktail party.  Fortunately, in the ballet world new stagings of the classics are few and far between. 

 

[penelopesimpson]

 

And we thought it looked bad from the Stalls...

[LinMM]

Sorry I know nothing about Fidelio but what is that brown stuff in the middle of the stage?

[zxDaveM]

46 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Sorry I know nothing about Fidelio but what is that brown stuff in the middle of the stage?

 

The stuff that missed the fan?

[Fonty]

2 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

 

And we thought it looked bad from the Stalls...

 

When you said it was a large cow pat, you weren't joking!

[LinMM]

Have just re read your review penelopesimpson and have just had a good laugh ...it is very funny even as I said know nothing about Fidelio.

Wasnt this the production that everyone was going mad for tickets for and there weren't enough to go around etc? 

That sounds like a real shame then .....but nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed your review. 

The stuff that missed the fan looks a bit like a distorted map of Australia.

Edited March 3, 2020 by LinMM

[penelopesimpson]

Thanks to everyone who has said they laughed at my review.  I was on a 3hr journey home and had to get my annoyance out.  I should have said just how much laughter there was in Act 2.  I could see people’s shoulders shaking infront and hear laughter from behind. I should have twigged there was going to be a problem when I realised that the Director has rewritten some of the plot -presumably because there is no Mrs. Beethoven around to protest.  I won’t spoil things ( ha, ha) but can say that in this version the jailers daughter early on suspects that Fidelio is not exactly marriage material.  You have to admire the girl - with her father in the next room she doesn’t beat about the bush but unbuttons his flies for inspection.  This, ladies and gentleman, is apparently all part of Mr. Kretzer’s deconstruction.  
 

I would love to ask the design team if they thought Act 2 Set worked.  It looked bad enough from the stalls but on Twitter you can see that from the Ampitheatre it looked even more ridiculous.

 

Hope to hear from anyone else who attends. Amused to see that today there were seats available for all performances.

[Anna C]

On 02/03/2020 at 07:33, Geoff said:

Thank you for all your comments Penelope (this Forum always seems a better place when critical voices interrupt the cooing of ignorant fans)

 

To me, this Forum always seems a better place when people abide by our rules, one of which is that contributors must be respectful to others.  

 

Referring to other Forum members as “ignorant fans” who “coo” is not only rude but it’s also extremely disrespectful.  

[penelopesimpson]

Perhaps, but laughter is always a better antidote.  Sigh.

[Sim]

15 hours ago, Fonty said:

 

When you said it was a large cow pat, you weren't joking!

Reflects the entire production, from what I am reading!!

[annamk]

14 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

Thanks to everyone who has said they laughed at my review.  I was on a 3hr journey home and had to get my annoyance out.  I should have said just how much laughter there was in Act 2.  I could see people’s shoulders shaking infront and hear laughter from behind. I should have twigged there was going to be a problem when I realised that the Director has rewritten some of the plot -presumably because there is no Mrs. Beethoven around to protest.  I won’t spoil things ( ha, ha) but can say that in this version the jailers daughter early on suspects that Fidelio is not exactly marriage material.  You have to admire the girl - with her father in the next room she doesn’t beat about the bush but unbuttons his flies for inspection.  This, ladies and gentleman, is apparently all part of Mr. Kretzer’s deconstruction.  
 

I would love to ask the design team if they thought Act 2 Set worked.  It looked bad enough from the stalls but on Twitter you can see that from the Ampitheatre it looked even more ridiculous.

 

Hope to hear from anyone else who attends. Amused to see that today there were seats available for all performances.

I was also there on Sunday and your review and subsequent comments made me laugh too - you very much echoed my own thoughts about everything - what a depressing experience it was, apart from LD's vocal power. 

[Ivy Lin]

Penelope did JK sound actually indisposed or like he was marking? I've heard both from him (along with some very magnificent nights). IMO he tends to be a somewhat variable artist.

[Coated]

It might not be a perfect production (it really isn't, particularly the second half), but the singing was quite something on Friday. Kaufman didn't sound as impressive as he used to, but he didn't in Otello either IMHO.

 

I am now a signed up member of the Lise Davidsen admiration society and want a wife that takes care of me as her Leonore does of Florestan.