Christopher Maltman (Leporello), Thomas Faulkner (Masetto), Christina Gansch (Zerlina), Royal Opera House, Don Giovanni © Marc Brenner 2022The scheduled opening night for this revival of Kaspar Holten’s production was cancelled due to the death of Her Majesty the Queen and subsequently, the panels bearing her insignia on the stage curtains have been blacked-out. Otherwise, everything proceeded as usual, (with just the addition of the national anthem), as befits a house of royal patronage where continuity and invention have remained bywords for over 200 years.
From the outset, Es Devlin’s two-story revolving mansion — awash with video projected images by Luke Halls— alludes to the rogue’s seductions, brawls and bawdy rabble-rousing with the scrawled names of his conquests and crimson splatterings following his murder of the Commedatore (Adam Palka) early in proceedings.
Luca Micheletti delivers a solid vocal performance in the title role as he cajoles and berates his manservant Leporello (Christopher Maltman) making him complicit in his misdeeds and leading to some of the strongest comedic interplay of the piece. But his floppy-haired youthfulness (early 30s?) somewhat undermines the assertion that his conquests run into the thousands. Did he start at puberty? The other notable pairing of the evening was Swedish soprano Maria Bengtsson as Donna Anna and Charles Castronovo as her betrothed Don Ottavio. Both possess passion combined with a controlled clarity, enabling them to deliver the ‘too many notes’ with power and fluidity. Elsewhere, Christina Gansch as peasant floozy Zerlina manages to hoodwink her Masetto (Thomas Faulkner) but also notably out-sang him into the bargain as he floundered in the acting department. Paula Murrihy didn’t put a foot wrong in delivering the goods as the irritatingly gullible Donna Elvira. In all, the entire cast should be commended for having to walk up and down those interminable staircases (but to be frank anything is an improvement on Francesca Zambello’s memorably unlovable production from the early noughties).
