Film & TV

Film Review: Royal Opera: Cavalleria Rusticana/ Pagliacci

Filmed in December 2015 in high definition this Royal Opera production is exquisite and excitingly different; it’s a heady mix of love, sex and revenge.

Cavalleria Rusticana (by Pietro Mascagni) and I Pagliacci (by Ruggero Leoncavalla) are both a heady mix of love, sex and revenge.

Known colloquially as ‘Cav and Pag’, these two one-act operas are often presented as a double bill and are known in the business as ‘bankers’ – operas that are depended upon by management to fill seats when times are financially tough. In other words, they’re popular, and deservedly so. This production by the Royal Opera is a winner.

In Cavalleria Rusticana, Turiddu has completed his national service and returned home to dicover that his intended, Lola, has married another, Alfio. He tries to console himself in the arms of Santuzza but is continually drawn back to Lola. Their infidelity is discovered and Alfio has it out with Turiddo who shoots him dead.

I Pagliacci is a play within a play. It is about a troupe of travelling players that gives a performance in a regional village. Nedda is the beautiful wife of Canio, the troupe’s leader, and is also the object of the affections of Tonio, a member of the troupe whom Nedda despises, and Silvio, who is a villager and her lover. Tonio, who is spurned by Nedda, takes his revenge and betrays Nedda and Silvio to Canio, who murders them both in a fit of rage.

Filmed in December 2015 in high definition and 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound, this production by the Royal Opera is exquisite and excitingly different. The production features ingenious directorial touches that link the two otherwise unrelated operas together and gives a sense of continuity.

Director Damiano Michieletto sets both operas in the same impoverished Sicilian village. The villagers in Cavalleria Rusticana are also the villagers in I Pagliacci. They are distressed by the murder of Turiddo and are witness to the slaying of Nedda and Silvio. With a stroke of genius, Michieletto also ‘pollinates’ each opera with principal characters from the other: Nedda and Silvio appear during the Intermezzo in Cavalleria Rusticana, and Santuzza and Turiddu’s mother also appear in I Pagliacci. Linking the two operas in these ways is brilliant, and it works a treat. It’s worth the price of the ticket alone!

Both operas are rich with lush melodies. Music from Cavalleria Rusticana is familiar to wider audiences through film directors’ famous uses of the Intermezzo (Raging Bull and The Godfather: Part III being two key examples). Enrico Caruso’s recording of Pagliacci’s Vesti la giubba is pivotal in the history of popular music; his 1902 recording being the first million-selling record.

The principals are uniformly excellent and extract every last glorious sound and aching vestige of humanity from the ‘verismo’ libretto. Eva-Maria Westbroek was heartbreaking as she epitomised the wronged Santuzza. Aleksandrs Antonenko was imposing and believably dishonourable both as Turridu and Canio. Elena Zilio was superb as Turiddu’s mother and her grieving over his dead body was palpable. Dimitri Platanias exuded mafioso as Alfio. Dionysios Sourbis was magnificent as Silvio and almost stole the show when we first focussed upon him during the Intermezzo in Cavalleria Rusticana. Carmen Giannattasio oozed sexuality as Nedda and her superb soprano voice worked perfectly with Sourbis’ mellifluous tenor line.

Conductor Antonio Pappano’s interpretation of the scores was empathetic with the look and feel of the production and the styles of the soloists, and his command of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House was first rate.

If you’ve never been to the opera or to a Palace Nova live opera screening, this sexy production of Cav and Pag could be the best way to lose your virginity with no guilt or hangups afterwards!

Reviewed by Kym Clayton
Twitter: @theatrekym

Rating out of 10:  8

Cavalleria Rusticana/ Pagliacci will screen again on 27 January as part of the Palace Opera & Ballet cinema season, presenting The Royal Opera House, La Scala and Opéra national de Paris – exclusive at the Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas.

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