Il Trovatore review – let's face it: these Verdi characters are very dull

The Guardian

27-02-2025

The Il Trovatore problem is easily summarised. Brilliant musical craftsmanship, some great singing roles, and an absurd, wild and cruel story – populated with (mostly) dull characters who make the whole drama hard to watch without a certain growing indifference.
Still, one takes one's seat at Il Trovatore with an open mind and aware that Verdi, then at the height of his creative energy after the triumph of Rigoletto, was keen to write it. There is not a dull page of music to come. But it is pointless to deny that the opera George Bernard Shaw unfairly dismissed as 'absolutely void of intellectual interest' is a distinctly odd experience.
That is certainly true of Adele Thomas's 2023 production, now revived under Simon Iorio. The opera is staged on a wide stairway, within three receding picture frames, and occasionally inside a screen that evokes the grotesques of the Bomarzo gardens near Rome. Inside, soldiers shuffle back and forth in Don Quixote kit while demons out of Maurice Sendak prance on all-fours amid a chorus dressed to resemble the prisoners in Paddington 2. The message seems to be that you do not have to believe too seriously in any of this, but why not give it a try?
It sort of works, at least for a while. Later scenes are more perfunctory, though that's in the score, too. And if this production harbours a deeper concept, it is not altogether clear.
But Il Trovatore will always stand or fall by the quality of its singers and by the zip of the conducting. Among the principals, Michael Fabiano's Manrico has the robust tenorial presence for such occasions. He looks good too, which is important for a tragic hero. But Fabiano muddied some of the role's most exposed solo moments and he was generally more impressive in expansive lyrical scenes, notably his third act aria.
Likewise, Rachel Willis-Sørensen has a rich, ample soprano well suited to the lovely role of Leonora, which she sang with taste and control. She too, though, was more challenged when drama and character kicked in. Agnieszka Rehlis had all the necessary dark chest tones that the pivotal role of Azucena requires, even if the production gave her few chances to dominate the stage. Aleksei Isaev's Count di Luna was rather generalised and seemed to be husbanding his voice, but there is a fine baritonal timbre in there. Riccardo Fassi was an incisive and splendidly athletic Ferrando.
In the pit, Giacomo Sagripanti has his moments, especially in lyrical scenes. Elsewhere his handling feels a bit too restrained. More brazen and visceral scenes are evidently less his thing – and Il Trovatore has a lot of them.
At the Royal Opera House, London, until 19 July