La Rondine

La Rondine
By Giacomo Puccini. Melbourne City Opera. BMW Edge. Director: Joseph Talia. Musical Director: Gaetano Colajanni. November 6 – 13, 2010.

Melbourne City Opera continue to bring the lesser known Italian operas to the Melbourne community. La Rondine was Puccini’s attempt at an operetta and was not particularly successful. The opera is only known for one aria, actually a duet, but I found the rest of the opera very approachable with the usual Puccini sweep in the music.

Continuing to use the BMW Edge instead of a theatre, MCO took another step forward by building out from the stage area and having a black backdrop with a window scene. This was particularly useful in the first two acts which were set indoors. There was also more room for performers seated at tables to move around.

Magda was played by the experienced soprano Maxine Montgomery, whose strong voice had no trouble being heard. She worked well with her Ruggero, international tenor Stephen Mullan, who had a slightly breathy tone, but a ringing top.

Raymond Khong’s lovely lyric tenor was well-suited to the role of Prunier and he and Martha George as Lisette made the most of their comic moments. The orchestra was tight and the chorus singing in act 2 thrilling.  The costumes were colourful, though not always consistent with the period.

An enjoyable evening at the opera.

Graham Ford.

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