When premiered in 1853, Verdi's La traviata was a cause célèbre in its depictions of courtesan life in 19th-century Paris. It’s an opera where internal tragedy and external gaiety alternate from scene to scene, an idea that director Olivia Fuchs is keen to highlight. Her new production for Irish National Opera is uneven, but opening night featured some excellent singing from the principals and chorus alike, accompanied by passionate playing from the orchestra.
Fuchs opts to set the opera amidst the beau monde of late 19th-century Paris but with more colourful and fantastical elements thrown in for good measure. Party scenes have a Baz Luhrmann Moulin Rouge feel to them – gaudy and garish – while the country house and sickbed scenes are minimalistic. Fuchs uses symbolism to highlight the message so, in Katie Davenport's sets, we have the sickbed suspended like a giant sword of Damocles throughout the party scenes to emphasise Violetta’s impending doom, or the chandelier lying on the floor as Violetta lies ill in bed signifying her life crashing to the ground. Subtle it is not and it creates a somewhat risible spectacle as the two principal characters have to navigate their fraught relationship around such looming props.
Davenport’s costumes are a mixed bag too. Courtesans are brightly arrayed in cabaret-style dresses and the matadors are terrifically eye-catching, but Baron Douphol’s outfit is particularly egregious in what amounts to a leprechaun costume. There doesn’t seem to be a clear reason for this, making him to be a figure of ridicule and distracting from the moment of great tension when he challenges Alfredo to a duel.
American soprano Amanda Woodbury sang excellently as Violetta. The diaphanous beauty of her high notes captured not only Alfredo from the get-go but the audience too. Her acting was at its most convincing in the tragic moments where she revealed a raw, vulnerable edge to her character. Her declaration of “Amami, Alfredo” in Act 2 was heart-breaking while the delicate vibrato in the higher notes of “Ah, fors' è lui” was beautifully done. She executed the virtuosic gymnastics in “Sempre libera” with brilliance and her impassioned reconciliation with Alfredo was moving.
As Alfredo, Mario Chang was well matched to his Violetta. It took a little while for his voice to open up, but when it did, Chang displayed a fiery tenor that was capable of keeping its power and tone quality throughout the evening, displaying huge emotional heft. However, the lack of chemistry between Chang and Woodbury was problematic.
Korean baritone Leon Kim, as Giorgio Germont, completed the trio of principal singers, stepping in at just a day’s notice. Germont's is the harsh role of separating the lovers on a flimsy excuse and then being rather sorry for it all at the end just as Violetta dies. Kim imbued his character and voice with gravitas and a believable subtlety. Even as he denounced his son’s behaviour towards Violetta at the party, there was a strained sadness to his elegant legato that gave depth to his character.
The Irish National Opera Chorus were terrific, singing with great enthusiasm and palpable energy in the party scenes. Conductor Killian Farrell elicited a passionate performance from the INO Orchestra; from the opening romantic, long breathed cello lines in Act 1 prelude to the dramatic final chords of the opera, Farrell had us enthralled.
