IDOMENEO by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Canadian Opera Company). At the Four Seasons Centre (145 Queen West). To May 29. $62-?$292. 416-?363-?8231. See Continuing. Rating: NN
Although there are touches of his later brilliance in the score and several breathtaking choral numbers, Mozart’s Idomeneo is a tougher sell than his later works. Unfortunately, the Canadian Opera Company’s stiff production won’t win the opera any new fans.[rssbreak]
After the fall of Troy, Idomeneo (Paul Groves), the king of Crete, returns home. He’s been saved from a brutal storm after promising the god Neptune to sacrifice the first man he comes across. Unfortunately, that unlucky guy is his son Idamante (Krisztina Szabó), who’s loved by the Trojan princess Ilia (Isabel Bayrakdarian) and the Greek princess Elettra (Tamara Wilson).
Director François de Carpentries’s bizarre production helps neither the singers nor the storytelling. Siegfried Mayer’s cold set design seems to channel surrealist Giorgio de Chirico, with columns, abstract geometric shapes and a screen that retracts for no apparent reason. Projected images don’t have much of a bang, and the opera’s one big FX moment – the appearance of a sea serpent – is represented by a glowing stump. Not very thrilling.
Costume designer Karine Van Hercke uses solid colours – blue, white, black – in the most simplistic fashion.
The singing is generally good, especially by the chorus. Bayrakdarian has a sweet tone even if she’s not the most comfortable performer onstage, while Groves has the requisite stamina and authority to command our attention.
Michael Colvin is clear-voiced and focused as Idomeneo’s confidant, Arbace. Best are Szabó and Wilson, the one noble and graceful, the other furiously watchable in her jealousy.
Wilson’s so good, you almost forgive a silly scene where she’s singing to her phallic lipstick.
