Alcina

I took the precaution of reading a synopsis of Alcina on the internet before I watched this film. Apparently it is about a sorceress who constructs a magical island from her captives, turning them into trees, stones and waves. Handel's magical island is, in this production, a suburban living room with peeling wallpaper. The director probably wants to emphasise the universality of the emotions on display but he makes it hard work for his audience. Scenery and costume give an audience a quick clue as to what the drama is about. It helps our understanding if the king wears a crown and the witch has a pointed hat. In this film the witch, Alcina, wears a series of increasingly décolletage cocktail dresses until, in her big act three aria, one of her breasts actually pops out. In fact stripping while singing is a repetitive theme of this production as a cheap way of producing some visual business during the long da capo arias. The unfortunate cast has continually to play against the text but the production really goes off the rails in the final act when the magical elements should be most prominent. There is one ludicrous moment when Alcina is telling Oronte to kill a lion with his spear when it is perfectly clear that he is holding a pistol and he is pointing it not at a lion but at a masked man. The cast do brilliantly in the face of this directorial crassness. The singing is of a very high standard, particularly Catherine Nagelstad in the title role and Helen Schneiderman as Bradamante. A particular revelation to me was Alice Coote in the trouser-role of Ruggiero. Her voice is striking and her appearance in a dark suit with a mop of floppy hair is reminiscent of Hugh Grant in one of his disreputable charmer roles. I think the magical element of the opera is supposed to be covered by the huge mirror that covers the back of the set, people appear through the looking-glass, and pass from one side of the mirror to the other. Fans of the Marx Brothers will enjoy the homage to the mirror scene in Duck Soup.

I never have considered Alcina one of Handel's best, the music is absolutely glorious as is always the case with Handel but the plot is mostly daft, Gulio Cesare and Rodelinda for examples have far more convincing stories. Although I have noticed some reactions that have been either mixed or negative, I actually did enjoy this Alcina. The staging at times is busy and over-the-top(I also didn't see the point to Ruggiero's collapse), understandably to make story more convincing perhaps, and the ending is very awkwardly edited in the video directing. However, while not my definition of magical, the costumes and sets actually are in keeping with the passionate tone of the opera. Besides production values have been far uglier at Stuttgart before, such as their 2003/4 Siegfried. The orchestral playing is stylish and beautifully done overall, and the conducting is mostly well-judged with the fast tempos sprightly and the slower ones done with pathos. But it was the singing that made this Alcina work. In particular Alice Coote's Ruggiero, beautiful singing and a very intelligent and intense performance of the besotted-then-scornful sort of role. Catherine Naglestad is also mesmerising, very bewitching, seductive and calculating with a definite command to her voice that was appropriate for the character of Alcina. Michael Ebbecke is an authoritative Melisso, Rolf Romei brings credibility to a role that could have easily thankless and Claudia Mahnke is a passionate Oberto. Catriona Smith is appropriately vulnerable as Morgana, and Helene Schneidermann sings expressively in the role of Bradamante. All in all, quite enjoyable though maybe not for all tastes. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Previous commentators seem to me to have underestimated the nightmare requirements facing producer and scene-designer. This must be the most ludicrous and arbitrary of all Handel's plots, though the music is as fine as the best. The key concept is sorcery, or bewitchment, and the production eschews lion skins and wild landscapes to concentrate on the metamorphic effects of sexual infatuation. This works well with the music itself, the usual cross-dressing and impersonations of the genre, and not least the beauty of the singers themselves. The giant false mirror/glass window is a powerful device for switching between reality and illusion, though admittedly it is not worked out very rigorously. (It is much more Alice Through the Looking-Glass than Duck Soup, incidentally).

Much of it is over the top. Too much tearing and shedding of garments and footwear abuse, perhaps, though there is a point to this. Too much alternation of modern and ancient weapons - I think they would have done better to stick with hand guns. And some of it escapes me completely - Ruggiero's collapse in the wedding photo line-up, for example.

Nevertheless I found it continually absorbing. The singing and orchestral playing is superb throughout, and the eroticism of the playing displaces concern about the psychological daftness of the plot.