It’s a Wonderful Life, English National Opera review — an enchanting Christmas show

Will a guardian angel come to the rescue? Three weeks ago English National Opera heard the devastating news that it is to lose its entire annual grant. With imminent extinction looking the most likely outcome, artistic director Annilese Miskimmon came out in front of the curtain before the opening night of Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life to rally the audience’s support.

She did not specifically call for divine intervention, though at this stage it is hard to see what other hope of survival ENO might have. What an irony that the company has scheduled an enchanting Christmas show that is all about a saviour from on high.

In the much-loved Yuletide story of It’s a Wonderful Life, an angel finds George Bailey on the point of suicide and throws him a lifeline. The 1946 film starring James Stewart is a Christmas favourite and ENO will be having similar hopes for this canny choice of opera.

In one of its various soul-searching reinventions of recent years, ENO decided to focus on operas written in English, a natural move given its language policy. Many of these have been contemporary operas by American composers such as Philip Glass and John Adams, so it is strange that it has not hit upon Heggie’s extensive output before. His It’s a Wonderful Life, based on Philip Van Doren Stern’s original short story, dates from 2016 and has been a success in the US.

Whether the opera can rescue ENO from its own life-threatening crisis is open to question. It is “family-friendly”, as advertised, unashamedly sentimental and not too long (though it feels longer). What it lacks is narrative drive, especially in the first half, which is slow to get a grip. Even George’s attempted suicide near the start goes for little.

The opera certainly ups the Christmas tinsel quota. The film’s elderly male angel Clarence has become Clara, played by glamorous, stage-savvy Danielle de Niese, and she is accompanied by a quartet of youthful angels, including some of ENO’s young Harewood Artists, who sing out from a star-spangled sky. The darker elements of the story are played down, except when Michael Mayes cuts through the sweetness as George’s nemesis, Henry F Potter.

By this point in his career Heggie has form in turning out viable operas. He does a good line in tinkling orchestral Christmas magic, captures changing moods deftly and delivers one indisputably fine scene of music in the love duet between George and his wife Mary. Why he should allow the opera’s climax to fall flat with a vastly overlong stretch of spoken dialogue is a mystery.

Frederick Ballentine is only half-audible there, which is a shame, as his portrayal of George is eminently bright, clear and personable everywhere else. Jennifer France is a touch thin of voice as Mary, but there are keen cameos from Gweneth Ann Rand as George’s mother and Ronald Samm as his uncle Billy. Nicole Paiement conducts Heggie’s sugar-dusted orchestra. Aletta Collins is the adroit director. If only the guardian angel can conjure a better future for ENO as well.

★★★★☆

To December 10, eno.org