Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette: an unremarkable work at a remarkable festival
“Dear elephant, you are in the room to tell us that Charles Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette is not a very good opera. I know, I know ….. Savonlinna Opera Festival has told us it is an underperformed gem. But you know different.
You tell us that the libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré turns the tight, page turning, original Shakespeare text into a circumlocutious bore. And that dear old French établissement Charles Gounod – Legion d’Honneur, et tout ça – writes mostly cheery through-music unsuited to a tragedy. And, that a couple of memorable arias do not an opera make.
Yes, elephant, I too am wondering why the powers that be who decide the Savonlinna repertoire picked this unremarkable work for their remarkable festival.”
Gounod wrote Faust – terrific, Romeo et Juliette – unremarkable, Mirielle – loopy, Le Medicin malgré lui – a brilliant comedy that should be revived more often, and eight other operas I have not seen. Not even elephants know whether or not they would be worth reviving. Maybe Wexford Festival Opera will have a stab at one of them someday.
Savonlinna nestles amid lakes and forests, a three-hour drive north of Helsinki airport. The twin-engine Biggles plane that whisked me there in 20 minutes last year was not scheduled. I drove through forests, lakes, more forests, more lakes, then, just to be different, lakes and forests arriving at Savonlinna to find the familiar, pretty, forest surrounded town – on a lake.
En route, the 80 KMH road winding through the endless trees suddenly widened into a two-lane highway with a massive tarmacked central reservation. Prudent, Finnish multitasking. This was a military runway ready for the day the Russians get really antsy. It even had fighter dispersal areas to right and left and was ready for immediate conversion to warfare.
A stark reminder that NATO’s recent recruit has a chequered past, making it prudent to be on guard if it wants an independent future. A larger force of more modern main battle tanks than the British Army, orders for the fifth generation F-35 aircraft that exceed those of the UK, and an army that when mobilized can call on 870,000 regularly trained reserves – nearly ten times the number of the UK’s army personnel, including reservists – make NATO’s 31st recruit welcome indeed.
Even Ovanlina castle, the stunning venue for Savonlinna’s festival, speaks of past conflict. Rising out of the lake, it seems as solid as the Fennoscandian Shield out of which Finland is formed. 1475 foundations almost meld with the rock. Ovanlina was built by the Swedes – who then occupied Finland – to keep out the Russians, a mere 120km away.
The fifteenth century festival venue is to be lauded for its total failure to concern itself with twenty-first century “elf and safety” wokeness. The audience files across a narrow, wobbly causeway. The floors of the castle are perilously uneven. Fire exits? Jump! Handrails? Sometimes. Could you fall from the battlements? Yup! No one minds. On both nights I attended there was not a spare seat in the house.
The central courtyard of the castle serves as the auditorium, covered by a sturdy tarpaulin. The walls are original undressed stone. The stage is wide, but not deep. Entrances are from staircases right and left, or front of stage. The acoustics have amazing clarity due to the stone walls, but in no way harsh. The seating is comfortable, sightlines excellent from all parts of the raked auditorium. The audience experience is as good as in any purpose-built twenty-first century glamhouse.
Except for leaving at the end, which takes about a week, as staggering patrons file through narrow tunnels before bursting out onto the lakeside. So what! More time to admire the surroundings.
Amy Lane directed this production. She described her objective as starting with the mass confusion of the two rival families, Montagues and Capulets, and distilling the action down until the last scene, focusing only on the dead Romeo and Juliette. The opera differs from the play in that there is no celebratory resolution of the family conflict when the bodies of the star-crossed lovers are discovered. Although it is mentioned in the sung prologue that their deaths will lead to peace, it is a passing reference only and likely to fly over the heads of anyone unfamiliar with the story.
Lane sets the piece in New York. Or, does she? If I hadn’t been told it was New York it would have been hard to spot. Except a scene where the male chorus wore brown suits and Derby hats, straight from central casting for the 2002 film, Gangs of New York.
Together with art director, Emma Ryott, Lane decided that the feud between the immigrant Montague and Capulet families should be rooted in culture and money. The Capulets are Trumpies, building a vast entertainment, restaurant and hotel empire. No golf though. The Montagues are Wall Street guys, monied, rising fast and dismissive of the more Mafia-like Capulets.
The scenery featured buildings – and that famous balcony – that could have come from anywhere. The opening party scene was a fairground set, including a large, fallen clown head stage left (symbolic of an imminent come-uppance? Cony Island?) and an open-mouthed clown with a mysterious red lamp for an epiglottis stage right.
The set is cinematic. As well as Gangs of New York Lane, it draws on The Greatest Showman (2017), and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet. As Lane says, Luhrmann was unavoidable. Oddly, she does not reference the most famous transposition of Shakespeare’s masterpiece to the Big Apple, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, although choreographer, Michael Barrie, with a troupe of four dancers and an enthusiastic chorus at his command, clearly had Bernstein in mind.
Barrie is an Irish choreographer with great experience in filmic opera – John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby at Semperoper, Dresden. He made great use of the unusually wide stage to fill the piece with exciting sequences of motion.
The Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir was deployed masterfully. Led by Chorus Master Jan Schweiger, they provided an energetic – and fabulously dressed – backdrop to the action. In the tight, Ovanlina space the sound was in “blows your ears off” territory. Fabulous.
Juliette was Marjukka Tepponen, a leading Finnish soprano, a Savonlinna regular. In the early performances the role had been taken by fiery Cuban, Lisette Oropesa. I had felt a little disappointed that Oropesa’s schedule clashed with mine. (Has the lady no sense of priorities?) But an encounter with Tepponen was thrilling. A more accomplished Juliette it would be difficult to find.
Exuding emotion from the moment of her first encounter with Romeo, Tepponen blazed across the stage until her self-inflicted stabbing in the Capulet tomb. Her solo, introspective arias were beautifully executed. I would love to hear her perform in pure bel canto roles.
Romeo was Italian tenor, Antonio Poli. He is enjoying a truly international career, spanning the usual Italian suspects – Venice, Milan, Rome, Bologna, Naples – Vienna, ROH London and Glyndebourne. Amitai Patti, the Samoan born tenor had sung Romeo in the first four outings. It is a compliment to Savonlinna that they could command such talents over the run.
Other members of the cast can be found here. Conductor Yves Abel, principal conductor of San Diego Opera, led the Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra. Gounod may be a bit light for tragic opera, but the luscious melodies flowed!
Savonlinna is a bit of a schlep to get to. On two visits it has not disappointed. Coming soon, The Barber of Seville, with an amazing fake orchestra onstage for the overture. My elephant tells me that’s quite a different story!!
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