Reviews for Don Giovanni
Opera Now magazine:
Just the business
Don Giovanni Mozart OPERA ANYWHERE
Some stories come up trumps, no matter what you do to them. But Don Giovanni not only survived in Opera Anywhere's re-interpretation, it actually thrived in their radical chamber staging.
The opera was set in a US-owned investment bank, the hilariously named Hottshotz Grabbitz in the City of London. Giovanni was a newly arrived, coked-up, foreign exchange trader, the Commendatore now Mr Mendatore, the UK chief executive and Donna Anna's corporate mentor rather than father, with Donna Elvira an angry jilted American lawyer.
A city bank seems an apt place in which to set the piece - one where such ruthless characters, sexual antics, disparities of power between men and women, partners and back-office staff, seem entirely plausible. And the characters were vividly brought to life in this setting by director Anna Pelly's translation of the libretto, which contained a torrent of expletives, plenty of slang and grammatical inaccuracies, and some wonderfully juicy rhymes (I mean, if you were Leporello what would you rhyme with `banker' when given half a chance?).
The cast, who were heroically accompanied by musical director Lyndall Dawson alone on the piano, revelled in their corporate playground. Richard Strivens as the eponymous hero was every-inch the super-smooth executive with a demonic sexual appetite, and a strong-voiced William Coleman was his cheeky, slightly slimy sidekick Leporello. Zerlina, now a junior secretary, was sung with energy and precision by Abbi Temple, in a wonderfully flirtatious performance that had real chemistry with her hopelessly besotted fiance Masetto, now a corporate post-boy, securely sung by Matthew Duncan.
Don Giovanni contains a counterpoint to this buffoonery, though, with some characters occupying another emotional world - and the modern setting managed to reach beyond farce, shedding light on the emotional vacuum at the heart of the corporate world. Donna Elvira, sung by a sweet-voiced Julia Hessey, tragically returns Giovanni's lust with love while cast adrift on business in Tokyo. Lynsey Docherty's passionate Donna Anna was unable to reciprocate her fiance's affections not only due to grief but also due to a deeper repression seemingly linked to her corporate environment, suggested by the replacement of her father by her boss in the adaptation. Steven Gallop as her boss the Commendatore added real menace to the final scene with a voice of tremendous power and emotional depth, plunging us fully into the tragedy of Giovanni's fate.
-- TOM WALKER
The Oxford Magazine
W A Mozart: Don Giovanni, Opera Anywhere, Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, 8 May 2007
This production of Don Giovanni from Opera Anywhere, the enterprising local company directed by Mike and Vanessa Woodward, was billed as ‘a new English translation’. This is wrong. What we have is a completely new version of the opera set in the world of corporate finance in an adaptation by Anna Pelly who draws on her own experiences of that world using the unprintable colloquial English of the milieu to produce a totally credible set of characters mirroring the creations of da Ponte. The result is a refreshing and completely valid version of Mozart’s opera, following the story-line closely but reminding one that his characters are real people with real emotions involved in the sexual politics of real situations (unlike many recent productions). Thus Anna is a senior partner in an investment bank who is sexually assaulted working late one evening by a ‘hoodied’ stranger. The chief executive (Mr Mendatore - sic), Anna’s mentor, who comes to her rescue is battered into a coma, dying later in intensive care. Her close colleague, Ottavio, another partner, displays his wimpish character throughout by seeking to follow protocol in bringing accusations of sexual assault and gbh against another colleague Giovanni, rather than taking direct action. Leporello is Giovanni’s chauffeur, Elvira an American lawyer jilted by Giovanni in Tokyo. Zerlina is from the typing pool (we first meet her photocopying invitations to her wedding party) and her fiancé, Masetto, works in the post room.
Much of this one knew from pre-publicity, which included a Channel 4 TV makeover with Harvey Goldsmith. The question was would it work in practice? Would the wit of the original be transferable and sustained throughout? Would the language offend? Would the standard of performance be worthy of the opera? More deeply, one was concerned that it might come over as a financial-world version of the cult television legal series This Life, with its rather sleazy soap opera characters - it didn’t.
The set was a simple arrangement of movable screens and office equipment, designed by Paul Batten, which provided an adequate rudimentary background for the action. The musical accompaniment was provided by Lyndall Dawson who, with immense stamina, hammered it out on the JdP Yamaha. Let us put it this way: she was emulating a full orchestra rather than the delicacy of a baroque band and continuo but nevertheless gave, for the most part, good support to the singers. Occasionally we had voice-over of financial news bulletins. Right from the start of Act I any qualms disappeared and one could sit back and become absorbed in Mozart’s music and the development of the plot in a fresh take on the well-known score. The words were clear – perhaps too clear. In spite of oneself one could not help smiling at some of the explicit text with unprintable rhyming. Only at one point, in over-emphasised reference to the female anatomy, did it offend.
Anna’s character was developed as an ambitious professional, approaching her glass ceiling, violated in more ways than one by the assault and its consequences and determined on revenge.
The denouement of the opera was brilliantly conceived, almost more convincing than the original. Instead of a statue we had a head portrait of Mendatore in front of which his full, upright, rigid body appeared suddenly, not as a statue but as a drug-induced hallucination of cocaine sniffing Giovanni and Leporello. The part was sung by Gallop, in a doom laden and menacing bass, as one had never heard it sung before. It did not seem to matter that the words did not come over as clearly as the original Italian, a cena teco m’invitasti. It was overwhelming.
It may seem incredible today but fifty years ago it was a matter for serious debate whether or not the final sextet should or should not be included, in which each character in turn looks forward to the future. In this version it is omitted. The production ends with Giovanni meeting his death at the hands of a group of black-masked muggers. It was enough and spared Ms Pelly the challenge of writing a version of the finale consistent with the financial scandal about to overtake the bank as a consequence of the events depicted.
-- PETER SCHOFIELD, 12 May 2007
The Oxford Times
Don Giovanni, Opera Anywhere
By Nicola Lisle
It is a courageous move to take a much-loved opera and drag it resolutely into the 21st century. But Opera Anywhere's updated version of Don Giovanni, unveiled at the Jacqueline du Pré this week, is bright, fresh, witty and dramatic. I must admit to feeling some scepticism about this production, particularly after the mauling it was given by entrepreneur Harvey Goldsmith in the recent Channel 4 documentary Get Your Act Together. So it was a pleasant surprise to see how seamlessly the plot translates into its new setting, and how the characters and Mozart's music emerge relatively unscathed.
Librettist Anna Pelly, a former lawyer, has moved the action to the cut-throat environment of investment banking in the late 1990s, where the ruthless but charismatic Don exists as naturally as in Da Ponte's original setting. Giovanni makes his entrance disguised as a pizza-delivering hoodie, before taking up his position as the new partner in the London-based investment bank, Hottshotz Grabbitz, which is headed by Mr Mendatore. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio are the other two partners; Zerlina and Masetto are junior office workers; Donna Elvira is an American lawyer, recently jilted by Don Giovanni and now intent on pursuing him; and Leporello is the Don's hapless chauffeur. The plot, despite being adapted to its new setting, is still recognisably that of Da Ponte. The libretto sails close to the wind with its use of expletives, but it bristles with vitality and humour.
It almost seems unfair to single out any of the exceptionally talented young cast, but for me William Coleman shines as an energetic and loveable Leporello. His delivery of the 'catalogue' song is a highlight, as is his jiving to rock group Queen during the supper scene.
Don Giovanni continues at the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building today, Tuesday and Wednesday. Box office: 01865 305305. For more details about this and forthcoming shows by Opera Anywhere, visit www.OperaAnywhere.com
Audience feedback from Opera Anywhere blog
Well, after sitting glued to Channel 4 and watching Don Giovanni get something of a mauling from Harvey Goldsmith, we went along to the full performance last night.
I am a nearly-middle-aged Church minister (just the sort of person who ought to get offended by this adaptation Don Giovanni). I took to the performance my 16 year old daughter, who has never been to an opera before (or even a classical concert) and who thinks "classical" means "pre-Westlife".
I thought this would be a good test for this new production.
For the record, we both loved it, and had a great evening. My daughter was a bit disappointed not to see any ball gowns and tiaras in the audience, and not to get any opera glasses, but we both sat transfixed.
The singing and staging were, frankly, astounding. An incredible assembly of talent. Some of the colloquialisms sounded strange set to Mozart (to me this startled much more than the swearing), but the libretto was, I thought, an inspired modernisation...
I ought to say a word about the language, given the channel 4 coverage. The swearing was worse than is used in my house, but no worse than I hear on the bus from Abingdon to Oxford. It made sense in the context, and did not seem gratuitous. I am sure if you had put the expletives in Italian, Harvey Goldsmith would have applauded. On the bus on the way home, my daughter (who also saw the channel 4 programme) said "Harvey Goldsmith: What a wuss."
Halfway through the second half I was worried that my daughter may not be following the plot. I asked her if she was, and she whispered back: "Dad, I watch Casualty, Emmerdale, Eastenders and Corrie in one sitting. I can do this thing!"
For us this was the real beauty of Don Giovanni: it's accessibility. If Opera Anywhere is trying to bring Opera to people like my daughter and I, who are not much in to classical music, then the approach taken in this production may just be the way to do it.
After the opening five minutes, my daughter turned to me and whispered "Dad, opera is really just Eastenders on stage."
And that is why I hope this production gets a chance to go out to a wider audience. On the strength of last night, my daughter is quite keen to go to see another opera. And I never thought to hear that from her lips. It is a shame, in a way, that there is not a “PG version” that could be sent into secondary schools.
My final thought is one of amusement: that Harvey Goldsmith and those suited, hard nosed city types should have been prudishly wary of a production that a Church minister loved and enjoyed. What a strange, topsy-turvy world we live in.
Posted by David Fleming to Mike Woodward's Blog at Thursday, May 10, 2007
Hi Mike,
I wanted to get in touch and say how much I enjoyed Opera Anywhere's production of Don Giovanni on Friday night. It seems I was not the only one, judging by the amount of laughter and hearty applause from the audience that evening. The quality of the singing was excellent across the board but what impressed me the most was the updated libretto. I have seen many companies attempting to bring opera into the present day and it has worked to some extent but something has always let it down. Here Anna Pelly has made this story work whilst being sympathetic to the original emotions and strong characters that Lorenzo da Ponte had intended. It is relevant to life today and realistic, hence the strong language that is used in the modern vocabulary.
If anyone who is reading this watched Channel Four's programme about Opera Anywhere I advise you to go and see this production as this company didn't need Harvey Goldsmith to put on an excellent evenings entertainment, as this proves that they have got there act together.
Wishing you all the best with the rest of the tour.
From an appreciative punter
Posted by Sarah to Mike Woodward's Blog at Sunday, May 13, 2007