Singing soars in boozed-up opera
A lush of a narrator and superb singing feature in an opera of fantasy and love
MICHAEL MOFFATT SHOW OF THE WEEK The Tales of Hoffmann Now touring ★★★★★
When hundreds of peoplewere burned to death in a fire at Vienna’s Ring Theatre during a performance of Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann in 1881, that awful man Richard Wagner commented that it left him cold and scarcely moved, ‘when members of an audience perish while listening to an Offenbach operetta which contains not one iota of moral worth’. He admitted the work had warmth, ‘but it was the warmth of the dung heap’.
Which is a bit rough on the prolific Offenbach, who had a flair for melody, could write drinking songs, duets and trios with the best of them, gave the singers in this opera plenty of opportunity to display their vocal and coloratura flair, and in the barcarolle provided a tune that has taken on a life of its own.
Hoffmann was left unfinished when Offenbach died in 1880, with the result that it was finished by others, and regularly gets reconstructed in performance. But it’s still a genuine opera, full of symbolic activity and great characters, a big step up from his satirical operettas.
And not the least of Offenbach’s talents was his humour: born in Cologne in 1819, he often signed him- self O. de Cologne. The opera, sung in French in this Irish National Opera production, with excellent sur-titles, takes its name from the gothic tales of the German writer ETA Hoffmann, who oddly, is given the role of a fictional character as narrator, poet and a gullible drunk.
In a beer-cellar he relates to the locals the tales of his three great love affairs: Olympia a beautiful singer, who, unnoticed by Hoffmann is also a puppet (in this version she’s a robot under electronic control). Antonia, also a beautiful singer, suffers from a lung problem and dies if she sings, both of which she does. Giuletta, originally a hooker, is a performance artist in this production, who tricks Hoffmann into being a slave to drugs. These three represent aspects of his great love, the opera singer Stella. And now in the beer-cellar, getting progressively more sloshed, Hoffmann awaits the arrival of Stella, his three-women-in-one. Julian Hubbard as Hoffmann sings with great intensity as the character goes through his various fights, a killing, and failed romances.
The four villains in the tales are embodied in the character Lindorf, an evil genius with a touch of Mephistofeles and Dracula, who’s always too sharp for poor Hoffmann. All four roles are sung superbly by bass John Molloy, such a fine singer and actor that he dominates the stage in every scene he’s in.
Claudia Boyle also does some astonishing work as the four women lovers. Her costume as Olympia, making her look a bit like Star Wars’ CP3O, seemed so tight that it’s remarkable how she was able to sing Olympia’s fiendishly difficult aria while acting out the role of a robot. She also has to create completely different characters in different singing styles for the sickly Antonia and the seductive Giulietta.
The most noticeable thing about the production is the quality of the singing in the supporting roles and the chorus. Gemma Ní Bhriain as Hoffmann’s sidekick Nicklausse is particularly effective, along with Carolyn Holt and Brendan Collins among others. And director Tom Creed has added some good imaginative comic and dramatic touches that blend well with the overall scenario of fantasy and reality.
Seven musicians have the unenviable job of doing duty for a full orchestra, with Andrew Synnott on piano having to bulk up the more dramatic episodes. And audiences should keep in mind that the first three acts take up almost two hours to the interval.
The opera tours Cork, Tralee, Kilkenny, Galway, Letterkenny and Sligo until October 6.