An Unexpected Bonus - The Marriage of Figaro

After  we had booked our opera holiday way back when, we got a letter saying that the company had managed to source some tickets for The Marriage of Figaro at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm and would we like to buy some. We thought about it briefly, but came to the conclusion that what with Drottningholm and the train trip to the Festival at Skaret we would probably be all opera'd out by the Monday night so we declined. However we were starting to regret this decision quite early on, so when the tour leader came round saying that there were two free tickets going because a couple had had to cancel their holiday altogether and would anyone like them, we bit his hand off as the saying goes. And we're so glad we did.

 

The Roya Opera House in Stockholm is a lovely building inside and out. You're obviously not allowed to take photographs of the performances but here are some pics I managed to grab of the interior before the opera began.

 

 

Quite ornate and not usually the sort of thing that I like - but opera houses are all about swagger and drama.

 

The production of Figaro was quite the oddest I have ever seen. It was set in what appeared to be a Grand Hotel in the 1930s, presumably on the French or Italian Riviera. In some ways this worked quite well, in other ways it was so-so and of course in some ways it was just silly, because the opera isn't actually written to be set in a hotel but on a large private estate and this gives rise to some odd moments in the action. Note, I'm not against up-dating or re-siting opera per se. I saw a fantastic Tosca set in Mussolini's Italy once which really worked, and a 1950s Boheme which was fine and even the infamous ENO scrapyard set Carmen had a certain amount going for it. But you know, you have to be careful.

 

Leaving aside the setting, this Figaro was Open Season for gropers. Everyone was groping everyone else, to the extent that the production was not 'erotic' as heralded in the program but bizarrely and banal-ly (which probably isn't a word) boringly unerotic.  I suppose there's no reason why Cherubino shouldn't be bi-sexual, but Figaro and the Count as well?? Figaro himself was also portrayed as violently sadistic, which again may ( just may, I'm not convinced) be supported by the libretto but it's not something that I've seen before and not something I'm keen to see again in a hurry. This is also the only time I've watched The Marriage of Figaro and wanted to slap Cherubino every time he appeared on stage. However that may be how we're supposed to see him.

 

The sad thing was that many people were so overwhelmed by horror/disgust/annoyance at the production that they couldn't see past it to the excellent singing and acting going on on the stage and the equally excellent work being done by the orchestra in the pit. If your production gets in the way of the singers, that's a pretty cardinal sin in my book. We have just booked to go and see Scottish Opera's Marriage of Figaro at the end of October, a revival of Sir Thomas Allen's recent  production for them, and that I know will be a lot more traditional. You don't want traditional every time, but I'll happily settle for it on this occasion, if only as an antidote!