Don Giovanni

Synopsis

Written shortly after The Marriage of Figaro. Based on the famous legend of Don Juan the master seducer from whom no woman can be considered safe. Don Giovanni pursues, seduces, rapes and murders and in the climax is pulled to hell by a stone statue of one of his victims come to life - he remains unrepentant. His servant Leporello witnesses all his masters wrongs. There is also a rarely performed opera of the same name (and story) by Giuseppe Gazzaniga which was first performed in 1786, eight months before Mozart's version.

Our Review:

22 January 2012

It’s a rum do when the star turn in Don Giovanni is the sap Don Ottavio, but hats off to the American tenor Matthew Polenzani for injecting urgency and vocal passion into Duncan MacFarland’s otherwise lame revival of Francesca Zambello’s 2002 production. On an evening when character engagement is at a premium, Polenzani brings Italianate fervour to his two big arias and protects Donna Anna with earnest ferocity. The temperature rises a notch whenever he appears.

The stage warms up in other ways, too, when gas-stove flames engulf the hellbound Don Giovanni at the end of the opera. These roaring jets are a high point in the late Maria Björnson’s designs, even if the giant fiery hand that points the roué to the underworld does seem a touch Pythonesque. For the rest, the visual language is a patchwork. There’s a nifty central construction – a bendy, revolving chunk of scenery that comprises a wall of religi...

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Latest User Review

Sandman - 25 February 2012:

This thread seems to support a theory I have, that most people don't like opera but a bit of panto or TV sitcom makes them perk up. It brings to mind the Royal Opera's hideous Fille du Regiment. Mind you, nothing wrong with a bit of populism I suppose....

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