Double helping of magic

Cosi Fan Tutte and The Monstrous Child (Royal Opera House) Verdict: Divine Mozart; smelly success (both) ★★★★✩

IF YOU have ever longed to shoot a pianist, hasten to Covent Garden and paintball the hyperactive forte pianist Stefano Montanari.

He is also the conductor, but his irritating twiddling at the keyboard in the recitatives is the only real snag in a delightful Cosi Fan Tutte revival.

Meanwhile, at the revamped Linbury Theatre downstairs, The Monstrous Child, by Gavin Higgins to a libretto by Francesca ‘ Horrid Henry’ Simon, is having its first run.

It is billed for 12-year-olds and upwards; and as I have been 12 for 64 years, I loved it.

Based on Norse myths, it stars mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons as Hel, half-goddess and half-corpse, who welcomes us to her smelly kingdom of the dead.

Her singing and enunciation are superb. The other singers are also splendid. The story is poignant and often funny, with some expert puppeteering.

On the main stage a beautifully balanced cast has been assembled for Cosi Fan Tutte. Sir Thomas Allen is a wily, cynical Don Alfonso, assisted by the delectable Despina of Serena Gamberoni in manipulating two pairs of lovers.

Jan Philipp Gloger’s 2016 production, though it overelaborates, does so with style and a modicum of wit. As conductor, Montanari favours extremes of tempo, not always felicitously; but the wonderful Covent Garden woodwinds and horns work their magic.