Terry Gilliam's Benvenuto Cellini - English National Opera

This early opera by Berlioz is rarely performed and I have never heard or seen it before. On first viewing I was not impressed so I watched it again. This just confirmed my impression that it is a perfectly listenable two hours or so of lightweight music with a plot that verges on the pantomimic. It is an ideal subject for director Terry Gilliam with his background in animation. I was reminded of his Monty Python cartoons by the scuttling bent figures of the servants in this production. The stage fizzes with activity in an opera that is set during the Venice carnival. There are children, clowns tumblers and acrobats everywhere, on stage and in the audience. I got the impression that the production was probably more fun to watch live than on film.

The plot concerns Cellini's wooing of Teresa, the daughter of Balducci the papal treasurer. Balducci has promised Teresa to Fieramosca, a rival sculptor. Cellini plans to elope with Teresa despite the fact that he is still working on a papal commission: a huge gold statue of Perseus. During Mardi Gras Cellini clashes with Balducci and accidentally kills one of Balducci's henchmen. There is a showdown with the Pope who is mainly concerned with getting his statue finished. Cellini promises to do so by the following morning. He eventually succeeds in this, gaining the Pope's forgiveness, admiration from Balducci and Fieramosca and the hand of Teresa.

The vocal lines of Berlioz's music for the opera seem to be quite sparsely written. Most of the tunes are given to the orchestra while the singers mainly provide a sort of conversational counterpoint. This is not unusual; many composers, Verdi and Wagner to name just two, use the same technique but with Berlioz it all seems a little unsatisfactory. The production is given in English, which may be part of the problem. The translation is perfectly serviceable but somehow does not sit well with the music. Berlioz recycled some of the music in his Roman Carnival overture. There is a standout tenor performance by Michael Spyres in the title role but even he, singing "Light of my life…", cannot quite make it fit the Roman Carnival tune. Try singing it yourself and you'll see what I mean.

Corrine Winters, as Teresa, is easy on the eye but, occasionally hard on the ear in this high soprano role. I found myself fantasising how good Natalie Dessay might sound in the part. The two baritone roles Balducci and Fieramosca sung by Pavlo Hunka and Nicholas Palleson come over as pantomime characters. Paula Murrihy is charming in the trouser role of Ascanio, Cellini's apprentice. Willard White gives great value for money as a rather camp Pope with a mincing papal guard.

This was an Anglo-Dutch co-production and a film version, which I have not seen, exists of the Dutch production which was given in the original French. I would be interested to hear whether this version sounds better than the English one.

'Benvenuto Cellini' is an interesting, if problematic, opera. Berlioz's music is wonderful, showing his mastery as an orchestrator. The fault lies with the story, which is confused and overlong, in need of more narrative clarity, trimming and tightening.

The comparison in the review summary has been made, as both production were directed by Terry Gilliam, a fine director with many great films. 'The Damnation of Faust' was underwhelming, being excellent musically and "Ride to the Abyss" was imaginatively staged but it was unappealing visually and much of the production, set in the Holocaust, often made little sense and was in bad taste. Of the two, 'Benvenuto Cellini' is the vastly superior production and something close to a triumph. It is also better than the sole production available on DVD, which was fine musically but perplexing visually and dramatically.

Not perfect by all means. The staging does get too busy sometimes, sort of understandable considering the problematic nature of the story, and Gilliam's direction and the visual spectacle occasionally is a touch overblown and gets in the way of things.

On the other hand, the production values are certainly very colourful, also really liked the Dickensian style of the costumes and make-up which worked surprisingly well. While not always entirely working, Gilliam's staging is much more tasteful than in 'The Damnation of Faust' and has many moments of real invention with a surreal touch at times, without resorting to gimmicks and excess, and nobly tries to make the story interesting and clear and largely succeeds. No easy feat with an opera that is notoriously difficult to stage.

Musically, the production is outstanding, the music is very demanding for the orchestra and the singers and both are more than up to the task. The orchestra play energetically, lyrically, powerfully and sensitively, while the chorus are at the top of their game and act with total engagement in one of their best overall performances in recent years. Edward Gardner gives an alert, lyrical and sympathetic reading as conductor. Michael Spyres in the title role is much better than he was in 'Les Contes D'Hoffman, he was poor in that performance so there was a worry as to whether he would cope with a far heavier role. He is however is much better voice, not sounding strained in the upper register where a good deal of the Tessitura sits at, and he is compelling dramatically.

Corrine Winters is remarkably vivid and sings beautifully, while Nicholas Palleson is a fun and sinister villain of the piece, the Ascanio is played with great ebullience and Willard White is luxury casting as the Pope.

All in all, while not without its flaws, after underwhelming with 'The Damnation of Faust' Gilliams largely triumphs here. 8/10 Bethany Cox