With this revival of La fanciulla del West, originally staged by Hugo de Ana in 2017, the Teatro di San Carlo approaches the end of sovrintendente Stéphane Lissner’s final season by revisiting a fascinating yet treacherous title, dramaturgically nuanced and musically complex. De Ana’s production, revived by Paolo Vettori, is rooted in a traditional aesthetic that evokes classic cinematic Westerns, with visual references to John Ford and Sergio Leone. However, eight years have not passed without effect; the staging is now struggling to recover a theatrically credible dimension, and the spectator experiences a jaded sense of déjà vu.
The curtain rises on a wide, realistic saloon populated by weary, melancholic gold prospectors: a world of weathered wood, stacked barrels, flickering lanterns and a layer of dust and disillusionment. This all-male environment, caught between dreams and defeat, is recreated with great visual care. Yet the excess of naturalism risks dulling the narrative, stripping it of symbolic tension. Sergio Metalli’s projections of the exterior scenes, enhanced by Vinicio Cheli’s lighting, strive for a cinematic quality but fall short of any real dramatic impact. Only in the third act do direction and music finally converge in an effective, touching synthesis, allowing the stage to come alive and Puccini’s drama to resonate with its intended depth.
Jonathan Darlington’s conducting was elegant but overly accommodating. While the San Carlo orchestra played with clarity and attention to detail, the overall interpretation felt polished to a fault, lacking the grit and urgency the score demands. The sound, though beautiful, was too polite, failing to evoke the harshness of frontier life and the desperate tenderness that infuse so many moments in this opera. The result was a musically static narrative that didn’t always support the drama unfolding on stage.
Anna Pirozzi delivered a vocally solid performance in the more lyrical and sustained passages, but never fully embodied the emotional depth or stage presence the role requires. Her Minnie felt competent but lacked the charisma needed to become the magnetic heart of the male community that surrounds her. Vocally, Pirozzi attempted to convey the emotional contrasts of the character through a dynamic reading, alternating lyrical moments and impassioned outbursts; yet, despite her good projection and range, she lacked the expressive and timbral palette necessary to give coherence and credibility to the opera’s most intimate and dramatic moments.
Martin Muehle, as Dick Johnson, brought generous intent to the role but offered a performance more forced than intense. His vocal line, often strained and grounded in a constant forte, allowed for little nuance, resulting in a character stuck in one dimension, despite the occasional flash of emotional sincerity. Gabriele Viviani was more convincing with a solid and credible performance, both vocally and theatrically, as Sheriff Jack Rance. However, his character suffered from direction that tended to flatten personalities into rigid stereotypes.
In this production, the numerous secondary roles – crucial in defining the colourful world of the gold miners were – beyond a few commendable exceptions like Leon Kim’s Sonora, Alberto Robert's Nick and Antonia Salzano’s Wowkle – lacking in impact. Many performances were sketchy and generic, with an expressive delivery that failed to enliven the vibrant choral tapestry Puccini envisioned. The Teatro di San Carlo chorus participated with professional enthusiasm in the many ensemble scenes that lend collective breadth to the opera.
While rich in professionalism and intent, this revival failed to reignite the poetic and emotional spark – a carefully crafted but dramaturgically outdated staging, with direction and conducting proceeding on parallel tracks that rarely met. Only in the final act, just like the protagonists heading off, Ford-style, toward a glowing horizon at the end, did theatre and music finally move in poignant unison.
