Chabrier, Leterrier & Vanloo
Royal Northern College of Music
RNCM, Manchester
December 10-14 2024: 2 hrs 25 mins
(Further performances tonight and December 14)
Emmanuel Chabrier is probably best known for his colourful orchestral miniatures Espana and Joyeuse Marche, but in the world of operetta this is his masterpiece.
L'etoile is from the period after Offenbach but in much the same vein – absurd stories, happy endings and plenty of melodious tunes in between. Almost Gilbert and Sullivan, you might say. But in L’etoile the hero is a mezzo soprano in trousers: that certainly isn’t in Gilbert and Sullivan; more the archetype of principal boy in a British pantomime.
In this case, King Ouf’s birthday is to be celebrated with an execution. An ambassador, his wife, daughter and secretary with ridiculous names are the ones on the make. Laoula (the daughter) and a penniless pedlar called Lazuli fall in love, but Lazuli finds himself condemned to death - until the royal astrologer finds that his fate and that of the king are inevitably linked. Complications, as they say, ensue. The ”lucky star” of the title is the one that saves Lazuli, the aforesaid-trousered mezzo.
This production, directed by Mark Burns with design by Adrian Linford, majors on lavishly spectacular sets full of surreal imagery (the period seems to have been brought into some fairly early point in the 20th century) and employing a cast of grotesques and caricatures for the frequent crowd scenes. There are 20 names in the credits in the programme for the RNCM technical team, and you can see why.
The three acts each open with a visual coup – the first a kind of living statuary effect behind a gauze, the second presenting Lazuli in a bubble bath, and the third a seaside scene, complete with real sand pie and dancing fish.
Production values are very high, though some attempts at innuendo don't harmonise with the overall atmosphere, even though they raise audience laughter. One thing the RNCM does in its opera productions better than almost anyone is crowd scenes, and the opera chorus (credit here I guess to Kevin Thraves in particular) sounds magnificent.
The home team deserves credit for much that’s good, Bethan Rhys Wiliam, creating effective choreography for chorus and principals (and no doubt training them to the high level many achieve), and the RNCM’s head of vocal studies and opera, Lynne Dawson, included in the credits as one of the French language coaches.
Most of the principal roles are double-cast, as is the usual pattern in RNCM opera, and I have seen only one performance - so it could be unfair to comment on performers I saw to the exclusion of those I didn’t. But the actress-singer who sings Lazuli has to be pretty special, and Daisy Mitchell has a pure and smooth upper register and a very effective speaking voice in the dialogue.
A gifted comedian was also present in the cast I saw, in the shape of Kristen Gregory as King Ouf. This is, like several roles in the show, meant to be a character past the first flush of youth, and in an RNCM cast that’s always a challenge, but he has a fine tenor voice and confident stagecraft.
The opera orchestra plays skilfully under Martin Pickard’s baton, though with the numbers involved, the souffle-like lightness that might be ideal for French music of this work’s period proves elusive at times.
More info and tickets here