FALSTAFF by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Robert Carsen, conducted by Johannes Debus (Canadian Opera Company). At the Four Seasons Centre (145 Queen West). Runs to November 1, October 9, 14, 29 and November 1 at 7:30 pm, matinees October 12 at 2 pm and October 25 at 4:30 pm. $12-$339. 416-363-8231. See listing. Rating: NNNN
The Canadian Opera Company season gets off to a superb start with director Robert Carsen’s smart, detailed production of Verdi’s last opera, Falstaff.
Based largely on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives Of Windsor, the narrative follows the rotund, blindly self-impressed title character’s simultaneous wooing of two married women, Alice Ford and Meg Page, and the revenge they take on him.
In Carsen’s hands, this is a rare comic opera that generates genuine laughs, both through its characters and the often-busy stage action.
Though the original is set in Elizabethan England, Carsen moves the time to the 1950s, the reign of Elizabeth II both were periods in which the aristocracy was losing its hold socially and financially to the nouveau riche. Brigitte Reiffenstuel’s costumes put Falstaff in quaint period wear while the others, notably the women, are stylishly dressed. Falstaff’s quarters and the restaurant in the Garter Inn emphasize oak-panelled walls in Paul Steinberg’s lush sets, while Alice’s brightly coloured kitchen has all the modern conveniences. There are more wonders in the Windsor Park scene, magically lit by Carsen and Peter van Praet.
But without strong performances, the visuals would matter little. Happily, this cast is as fine vocally as it is dramatically.
With a fine sense of comic timing, Gerald Finley shows us all of Falstaff’s privileged self-centredness, sensuality and humour. Encased in a fat suit, the actor commands every scene he’s in.
There’s equally strong work by those around him, including Lyne Fortin’s pert Alice Lauren Segal as her accomplice Meg the excellent Marie-Nicole Lemieux as their gossipy, fun-loving friend Mistress Quickly Russell Braun as Alice’s testy, jealous husband and Simone Osborne and Frederic Antoun as young lovers Nannetta and Fenton. What a clever idea to make Fenton a waiter in the elegant restaurant where we first meet the women the setting gives the amorous two a great opportunity to flirt.
The high quality of this exuberant production reaches to the minor figures: Michael Colvin’s fussy Dr. Caius, who wants Nannetta for himself, and the conniving petty thieves who make up Falstaff’s retinue, the red-nosed Bardolfo (Colin Ainsworth) and the equally scruffy Pistola (Robert Gleadow).
Verdi’s score, expertly conducted by Johannes Debus, is a marvel in its ensemble numbers, especially a rousing finale.
And yet Falstaff isn’t a piece of writing that fully engages me I admire it rather than am moved by it. Verdi’s filled the opera with fine dramatic moments and skilfully woven musical numbers, but the whole rarely arouses my passion or touches my heart.
