Royal Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro is the wedding gift that keeps on giving — review

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In these closing weeks of the Royal Opera season, the opening nights have been coming thick and fast. The final two — Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Verdi’s La traviata — have now joined a decent revival of Don Carlo through to the summer holidays.

When funds are short, the Royal Opera must be glad that its stock of productions includes bankable hits for the most popular operas. David McVicar’s handsome and lively The Marriage of Figaro, first seen in 2006 and now on its 10th revival, is near the top of the list.

This is a production that never fails, even as each cast brings its own dynamics. The driving force this time is Stéphane Degout, who returns as a forcefully determined Count Almaviva, digging deep to find the wellspring of lust that drives the character on, an 18th-century Jeffrey Epstein, no way a figure of fun. The proto-revolutionary fervour of Beaumarchais’s original play is well captured in the clash between him and Mattia Olivieri’s vibrantly sung Figaro, a servant with attitude. Although Olivieri is overkeen to be the life and soul of the party, it is a joy to hear his bright, forward Italian baritone and every word is alive with meaning.

The women in this revival are less assertive, which is a shame in an Enlightenment comedy where the female roles can have equal agency. As compensation, Hrachuhí Bassénz fields a creamily soft-grained soprano as Countess Almaviva, treating her arias to a heartfelt soft palette of colours, and Siobhan Stagg is an appealing Susanna, though the voice sounds on the small side. Anna Stéphany’s Cherubino makes up in boyish spirit what she misses in vocal purity and there is a characterful supporting trio in Dorothea Röschmann’s Marcellina, Maurizio Muraro’s Doctor Bartolo and Krystian Adam’s wickedly funny Don Basilio.

A fluent, well-paced musical performance under conductor Joana Mallwitz is another plus, though she lacks the extraordinary grip of John Eliot Gardiner in several earlier revivals.

★★★★☆

The 1994 production of La traviata, originally directed by Richard Eyre, is not as interesting, but it seems unlikely that any replacement would equal its visual opulence. It has been worked hard and, as its 30th anniversary approaches, has hosted more than 30 singers in the title role.

One of those was Kristina Mkhitaryan, who returns for this revival as a dramatically effective Violetta. Her experience ensures that the role’s diverse elements are well within her grasp, and she brings to it some individuality (“Sempre libera”, Violetta’s paean to pleasure, is sung as if she is already too ill to fulfil her desires), but the absence of warmth in the voice is a drawback.

Liparit Avetisyan also returns as Alfredo, at his best in the light and shade he brings to his aria, and Juan Jesús Rodríguez is a forthright Giorgio Germont with the right kind of Mediterranean sound, but not the ideal elegance of style. Keri-Lynn Wilson is the over-insistent conductor for this most intimate of Verdi’s dramas, but her pacing serves well in a full version of the score — a feature of the production from its very first night.

★★★☆☆

‘Figaro’ to July 22, ‘La traviata’ to July 23, roh.org.uk