The New National Theatre Tokyo has catered rather well to Rossini and bel canto fans under the current directorship of Kazushi Ono, with a new Cenerentola (2021), a new Guillaume Tell (2024), and now a new production of Il turco in Italia to open the 2026-27 season. Actually, this production by Laurent Pelly, a co-production with Teatro Real Madrid and Opéra National de Lyon, has arrived rather late to these shores probably due to post-pandemic scheduling issues, but it was certainly worth the wait. With a sparkling cast, it was an evening of bel canto bliss.
The staging brought together an experienced international cast in this repertoire, many of them regulars at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. Moreover, it was not just their bel canto and agilità that impressed, but their acting was just as brilliant, with some like real comedians. Musically and dramatically, they elevated this pretty absurd plot to a high-quality entertainment. In the pit, Alessandro Bonato, making his debut at the NNTT, kept a lively and energetic pace, keeping the singers, chorus, and orchestra together with panache.
In Laurent Pelly’s smart production, Donna Fiorilla, sung by Claudia Muschio, is a bored housewife living in a plain, suburban house in the 1960s. She loves reading romantic ‘photo novels’ (Fotoromanzo – an postwar Italian invention in between comic books and cinema which enthralled millions of female readers) and Pelly uses the covers and pages of these photo novels as a visual backdrop and theatrical tool to update the plot of the opera into the 20th century. I thought it would have been more interesting for the audience if the text captions on these pages had been translated into Japanese. By framing the story with Fiorilla’s obsession with the photo novels (cleverly demonstrated during the overture), essentially the whole opera unfolds her imagination – thus on stage there is no sea, no town of Naples, nor the ship that brings the dashing Turk, Selim, played by the young Spanish baritone, Alejandro Baliňas Vieites.
A key feature of Il turco in Italia is its meta-theatrical element. Prosdocimo, a poet suffering from writer’s block, trying to find a subject for his new play, enters the plot as an observer and manipulator, rather like the character of Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte (but less manipulative). Pelly makes Prosdocimo a neighbour of Fiorilla’s, searching for a story for a new photo novel. Baritone Bruno Taddia played this comic role perfectly; not overdoing the slapstick, but funny enough to make the audience chuckle. In fact, none of the singers went over the top with their comic acting; even in the silliest situations, it never interfered with the singing.
Baritone Paolo Bordogna, playing the role of Fiorilla’s husband Don Geronio, was exemplary in balancing the vocal and acting requirements with total ease. Visually and dramatically convincing as the elderly and unattractive husband yet pulling out spectacular virtuosic display in his arias and duets, such as the second act opening duet with his rival Selim (“D’un bell’uso di Turchia”) and his aria “Se ho da dirla, avrei molto piacere”, attracting huge applause. Vocal fireworks were also provided by the tenor Ruzil Gatin in the role of Don Narciso, a friend of Geronio but secretly in love with Fiorilla. Gatin’s voice is bright and powerful; perhaps not a typical lirico but certainly an outstanding leggiero, almost stealing the show in his Act 2 showpiece aria “Tu secondo il mio disegno.” Meanwhile, Alejandro Baliňas Vieites was a perfect fit in the title role of the ‘Turk’, singing with plenty of comic charm and lyricism. He would be great in roles such as Leporello.
Claudia Muschio was an elegant Fiorilla throughout, although she was slightly somewhat overshadowed by the distinctive personalities of the male characters. She seemed more at home in the bored housewife role rather than the flirtatious woman, and it was the sincerity she showed in her aria near the end “Squallida veste e bruna”, in which she regrets her loose ways, that impressed most. However, her assured technique really came into its own in the ensemble scenes especially in the first act. In fact, it was the ensembles that formed the highlights of the evening: in particular, the quintet in the ballroom scene in Act 2 (during which Selim is reunited with his former lover Zaida, sung by Yuka Tajima) sung by was visually and musically most memorable. On opening night, the first act did feel a little cautious (in the pit too), but the energy level rose in the second act, perhaps spurred by the aforementioned duet, leading to a satisfying finale. No doubt things will get more exciting during the run.
