DESIRE AND DESTINY
Zaza, Opera Holland Park, London
Productions of neglected Italian operas have featured prominently at Opera Holland Park, and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Zaza was well due for revival. A relative success at its Milan premiere in 1900 and staged frequently elsewhere, it dropped out of the repertoire from the early 1920s when its heady amalgam of realism and sentimentality must have seemed distinctly outmoded.
Yet, appearances can be deceptive. The composer, who had struck gold with Pagliacci, extracts maximum
drama from the narrative of a revue singer whose litany of amorous conquest gains unforeseen perspective when encountering the wife and, especially, the daughter of her latest infatuation. After this, rejecting her lover and accepting her fate seems the only solution left.
All this is set against a backdrop of activity that Marie Lambert’s staging conveys vividly and without fuss, not least as theatrical artifice falls away so that real emotions can take precedence.
Anne Sophie Duprels excels in the title role while Joel Montero’s vibrant Milio, Richard Burkhard’s longsuffering Cascart and Aida Ippolito’s cameo as Toto are the pick of a strong supporting cast. Peter Robinson’s expert conducting is a reminder that Leoncavallo was a resourceful orchestrator as well as a dependable librettist.