L’Heure Espagnole / Gianni Schicchi

This was a delightful evening of comic opera. The orchestra was on stage with a walkway around three sides of it and the action taking place in front of the orchestra and on the walk ways. This worked well, and the orchestra was occasionally included in the action.

Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole concerns the shop of a clockmaker, who is sent out on his rounds as his wife anticipates the arrival of her lover. Unfortunately this is complicated by the presence of a mule driver waiting for his watch to be fixed and another less welcome suitor. The shenanigans that proceed with various males hiding in grandfather clocks and being transported by the muscular mule driver up to the wife’s bedroom and back again made for a very funny show.

Katrina Waters as the promiscuous wife, Concepcion, has a rich voice, but the diction didn’t always come across. As the lover more interested in poetry, musical theatre tenor Nigel Huckle was suitably over the top with his posturing. Raphael Wong sang beautifully as the mule driver.

The find of the evening for me was baritone Shoumendu Ganguly. His slim figure was padded out for older roles in both operas. I had not encountered him before, and his beautiful baritone was as good as any of the others in this strong cast.

Gianni Schicchi started with the performers in a huddle with the conductor before he announced they were going to proceed, even though one cast member was still struggling with Melbourne’s public transport. However, they had found a substitute, and a member of the audience came down to become the corpse!

I’d never seen such a happy corpse.

James Payne was a confident and funny Schicchi and was able to dominate the action as he should. As his daughter Lauretta, Rebecca Rashleigh looked and sounded lovely. Nicholas Renfree-Marks as her lover, Rinuccio, was another new face for me. His is an exciting talent, but his aria was beyond him. One hopes he will stay within his limits as he develops.

Costumes were generally present day and worked well. The small orchestra coped well. The Australian colloquialisms were appreciated by the audience, and it was another very funny production.

One hopes this innovative company will continue to gain support from the Melbourne community. It certainly deserves it.

Graham Ford