La Traviata

Oz Opera is Opera Australia’s touring company, and its clear aim is to bring high-quality opera to as many Australians as possible, regardless of personal background and geographic location. Their biennial national touring circuit will bring La Traviata to 25 different communities in Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and the ACT in 2010 and continue to other states in 2011.

Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata has some of the best-loved music in opera and tells an intimate story of love and self-sacrifice played out in a society full of hypocrisy and superficiality. This is arguably the opera’s main claim to dramatic relevance for contemporary audiences, and it is Oz Opera’s starting point for their staging of this romantic Italian classic.

Rachel McDonald’s production is set in 1890s Paris and focuses on the frivolity, sensuality and violence of its underworld. Violetta Valèry (Leah Thomas) is a celebrity courtesan who is trapped in a society she can’t escape, emphasised by Jo Briscoe’s and Genevieve Dugard’s set design- a stark metal cage from which Violetta only escapes at the very end, when she is finally released from her torments. Alfredo Germont (Benjamin Rasheed), a young aristocrat, falls in love with Violetta and convinces her to abandon this world which is killing her. He takes her away to the country where they live in love, but their paradise is short-lived as Violetta’s inescapable destiny returns in the form of Alfredo’s father (Tom Hamilton), who asks her to leave Alfredo in order to not further disgrace the family’s reputation. She eventually accepts and this self-sacrifice sets in motion a downward spiral of events which culminate in one of the most moving finales in the operatic repertoire.

On a musical level, this is certainly a small-scale Traviata. The 11-piece Oz Opera orchestra performed the reduced orchestration very well under the solid guidance of conductor Simon Thew, but the moments of musical intensity so crucial in Verdi were missing. Leah Thomas’s Violetta is visually appealing and well acted but lacks vocal size and maturity for this demanding role. She possesses a sweet middle register but somewhat strained high notes. Similarly, Benjamin Rasheed’s light lyric tenor is pleasant during most of Act 1 but is less suitable for the passionate outbursts and heavier emotions of the remainder of the opera. Tom Hamilton stood out as Giorgio Germont, his expressive baritone voice complemented by effective acting. The secondary roles were all well sung, particularly by Sarah Sweeting as Annina.

It must be said that Verdi operas, due to their dramatic nature and particular musical demands are very difficult to scale down to meet touring production requirements. While these difficulties are reflected in the limitations of their production of La Traviata, OzOpera have nevertheless succeeded in making a stage worthy version of a perennial favourite.

La Traviata

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