Turandot

Synopsis

Passion and savagery combine in this fable of the icy Princess who sets her suitors three riddles on pain of death - and Prince Calef who vows to win her. Love triumphs, but at the cost of the slave girl Liu. Puccini's last opera, includes Nessun Dorma.

Our Review:

22 October 2009

Puccini’s final opera is a testing showpiece for chorus and orchestra, but Edward Gardner’s ENO forces are equal to it. The house musicians are on tremendous form these days, especially when Gardner himself takes the helm, and their reading is world class. The orchestra sings, the chorus thrills; every nuance is beautifully judged. Close your eyes and you’re in musical heaven.

Open them again and you have Rupert Goold to contend with. In seeking to stake his claim as an opera director he has chosen to impose a radical director’s concept on Turandot, albeit one in which he has little confidence, it would seem, and one that doesn’t work for a single second.

We are no longer in ancient China but in a modern Chinese restaurant with, apparently, human bushmeat on the menu. There’s something dodgy in the prawn crackers too because, in a tacked-on silent role, a ‘writer’ (Scott Handy) peoples the room with the products of his im...

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Latest User Review

Bernice - 12 November 2009:

I have always viewed this as a tradgedy so this comic interpretationn was different-but not in keeping with the story or the text! Poor staging, amateur theatre and farce (Turandot's entorage emeging from a pantry/fridge) did nothing to compensate for overloud music and singing and a third rate cast with few exeptions.Not worth 10% of the cost - even for the laugh. ...

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