Handel's RODELINDA makes a welcome return to English National Opera's enormous London Coliseum stage. A typical Baroque feast of treachery, love, questionable fidelity, blood'n'guts and some welcome humour.Bertarido, usurped by Grimoaldo, has fled his kingdom leaving behind his wife Rodelinda, son Flavio and scheming sister Eduige who has designs on power which she hopes to achieve by marriage to Grimoaldo. To her chagrin the new ruler renounces his love for her and instead attempts to woo Rodelinda. Thus, general order unravels and mayhem ensues.
Amanda Holden's translation of the Nicola Haym's original libretto from the 1720s may lack some of the wittier elements present in her work on Partenope (reviewed in March), but in this revival from 2014, director Richard Jones has thankfully managed to imbue a great deal of comedy into his staging. The orchestra under the assured baton of Christian Curnym gives a good account of itself and benefits from some beautifully played, original period instruments.
Jeremy Herbert's set is an odd mix and relatively lacking in sumptuous regality. He has included 3 downstage travelators which allow for action (generally walking), to take place whilst larger scene changes are completed behind the tabs. It was notable that such set changes were completed with minimal back stage noise - quite a surprising and unusual accomplishment for the stage crew at ENO!
Tim Read's confident and technically adept counter-tenor brought zest to the role of Bertarido and was matched by Rebecca Evans' soprano in the title role. Both Susan Bickley (Eduige) and Neal Davies (Garibaldo) were slow to warm-up, but once into their scheming ways, showed their Baroque credentials. Christopher Lowrey (as Unulfo) and Matt Casey (Flavio) added much of the aforementioned comedic elements. The slight disappointment for this reviewer, was Juan Sancho as Grimoaldo - as the villain of the piece, he appears the part with his swarthy latin looks and slicked back hair, but lacked sufficient physical gravitas and menace to convince. His tenor notes were on point, but have yet to acquire the rich, honeyed tones needed for such parts - his voice reminded me of the young Guiseppe Sabbatini who I once, perhaps unkindly, likened to a bee-in-a-jam-jar.. At a mere 35 years of age however, Sancho has had ample technique and plenty of time to develop into a prodigious talent.
With a successful career spanning almost forty years, Madness have written a vast catalogue of iconic chart topping songs, and it is the tracks from their early years that the musical Our House is centred around.