Puccini, Illica, Giocosa
Senbla; Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre, Kyiv
Opera House, Manchester
February 21, 2025: 2 hrs 30 mins
(Also York Grand Opera House, February 28; Darlington Hippodrome, March 13; Bradford Alhambra, April 15; Sheffield City Hall, May 1, and other venues)
It’s the mixture as before from Ellen Kent: one-show-a-night performances of popular operas by mainly eastern European performers, same production values as before, with children, animals and local members of theatre groups employed to help fill the stage, and economy the watchword.
Madama Butterfly (seen two years ago, see here) is on tonight, and La Traviata (review here ) on Sunday.
If such repeated revivals with minor cast changes were presented by our major home opera companies, we would probably hesitate to give them coverage, but Ellen Kent (with the help of tour company Senbla) gets hers into major theatres, and the people keep coming.
And for me there’s one overriding reason to give them, and this repeat viewing of Puccini's La Boheme, attention: the chorus and orchestra are from the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre, Kyiv. The fact that they are performing at all merits admiration, and, like audiences everywhere as they sing the Ukrainian anthem and raise their flag at the close of each show, we must salute their courage.
The main soloists last night were Davit Sumbadze, from Georgia, as Rodolfo; Elena Dee, from Korea, as Mimi; Viktoria Melnyk, from Ukraine, as Musetta, and Iurie Gisca, from Moldova, as Marcello. They each gave a good account of themselves in the celebrated numbers, and conductor Vasyl Vasylenko gave them each room to shine (he still rushes through some parts of the score, particularly at the beginning).
And then there was Milo the dog – not, as we were led to believe, a local pet pooch with stars in his eyes, but an experienced performer who did all his tricks perfectly on cue. You can’t beat a good professional.
More info and tickets here
