Ellen Kent’s current revival of her original production relishes its traditional 19th Century roots and delivers a truly musical feast to dine upon at whose heart lies a love story that draws upon Alexandre Dumas the Younger’s real-life doomed love affair with well-known courtesan, Marie Duplessis.
We open with Violetta (Viktoria Melnyk), aided by her friend Flora (Yelyzaveta Bielous) hosting a lavish party where she is introduced by Gastone (Ruslan Pacatovici) to his friend, Alfredo Germont (Davit Sumbadze), a fervent admirer, who is more concerned for her failing health than her escort, Barone Douphal (Vitalii Cebotari). When Alfredo declares his love for her she wonders if he could be the one amidst her desire to be free to live her life.
A year on and Alfredo and Violetta have been living together for some time in an isolated country house. He soon learns from maid Annina (Anastasia Zuienko) that Violetta is having to sell her possessions to maintain them, and he hurries to Paris to sort his affairs. His father, Giorgio (Iurie Gisca) arrives and with guile and cunning persuades Violetta to end the relationship.
At a party in Paris, the Marchese (Eugeniu Ganea) informs Flora that Alfredo and Violetta are no longer together, much to everyone’s amazement. The arrival of Alfredo followed by Violetta with the Baron leads to an inevitable confrontation as Alfredo is challenged to a duel. As we are thrust towards our final scene, does an ever-present Doctor (Valeriu Cojocaru) suggest there is time for wounds to be healed? Will our lovers be reconciled when the truth finally unravels? Well, you’ll have to come and see for yourself as this production continues on its UK tour.
Sung in its original Italian with English surtitles, prepared by Mariia Maliuta, we were treated to some wonderful choreography from Stage Director Victor Donos, and I especially enjoyed the humour of the matador scene – a spoof on Bizet’s Carmen – with a wonderful cameo from Chorus Mistress Kateryna Kondratenko-Savienkova as the matador.
Kent’s productions are all about attention to detail and this was evident in her presentation with inspired backdrops and use of statuettes and floral arrangements in conjunction with Valeriu Cucarschi’s lighting arrangements to subtly transform each scene. This is the lesser performed of the three touring productions, and with this only its third outing, there were some occasional blocking issues, and whilst I know she will be hard on herself, it did not majorly detract from the overall performance which was regularly greeted with applause from an appreciative audience.
Verdi’s sublime score contains some of his most inspired arias and duets including Violetta’s introspective ‘Ah fors’è lui’ and hedonistic ‘Sempre libera’; Violetta and Giorgio’s poignant Act II encounter; and Alfredo and Violetta’s ‘Parigi, o cara’, in which they dream of a happy future, and we were swept along in the meticulous hands of maestro Vasyl Vasylenko, who coaxed the ambience and mood at every turn from the Orchestra of the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre, Kyiv.
Sumbadze was intense and brooding as the young lover with strong solos although I would like to see a little more emotional vulnerability to his characterisation, whilst Gisca delivered a father full of ire and cunning in his desperation to protect the honour of his family, and his duets with Melnyk were impressive.
Violetta is the star of this opera and Melnyk undoubtedly the star of this production where she is in complete command from the beginning, delivering her first act solo with assurance and a strong tone which was to continue throughout with her heartfelt performance: Verdi famously said this was a role for three different women, but Melnyk was all of them tonight and more, and I must confess to falling in love just a little with this Violetta.
La Traviata is one of three productions touring throughout the UK with full details available at www.ellenkent.com.
Reviewer: Mark Davoren
Reviewed: 23rd February 2025
North West End UK Rating:
Rating: 4 out of 5.
