Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni has a picaresque plot in eight separate scenes. If the opera is entirely presented in a empty room the audience has no change of understanding what is going on. This is what we get from Australian Opera. The lack of a set suggests that it was designed, if that is not too kind a word to be presented at village halls throughout Australia. Perhaps it was. The graveyard scene is particularly silly with just a coffin in the middle of the stage and the Commendatore's ghost standing next to it. In the final banqueting scene the coffin has to double as the Don's table.

The singing is as undistinguished as the set. I personally find Teddy Tahu Rhodes' booming baritone quite unpleasant to listen to. Conal Coad and Rachelle Durkin are an elderly Leporello and Donna Elvira and both look and sound as if they should have been performing these roles 20 years ago. Maybe they were. The rest of the cast are young but equally unimpressive. I shall not name names because these young performers may want to put this feeble production behind them.

The scene where the Don and Leporello change clothes often does not work in an updated production. In this production the Don does indeed have fine clothes and Leporello has a servant's dress. The scene still does not work though because tall, thin Tahu Rhodes changes clothes with small, fat Conal Coad and the effect is unintentionally ridiculous.

Don Giovanni is an operatic masterpiece, though I'm a little indecisive over which is Mozart's best opera between his big four- Giovanni, Figaro, Zauberflote and Cosi- as they are all equally amazing for similar reasoning. Don Giovanni is generally well served on DVD, the Gerald Finley production fares least but that still has its good things(it's certainly superior to the disappointing La Scala production from two years ago with Barenboim conducting- while Losey's film, the Met production with Terfel and Karajan's with Ramey are the top choices. This Opera Australia production could have been even more, but in no way does it disrespect Don Giovanni or Mozart at all. There is actually very little wrong here. But while the costumes and sets are traditional and look good there could have been more variety with them, they seemed a little static. The final supper scene is not thrilling enough, that was disappointing as it was promised to be, while Batti Batti is taken rather too fast so that it lost its imploring quality and I couldn't believe in one second that Elvira really believed that Leporello was Giovanni, when their height and weight couldn't be more different.

However, the orchestral playing is stylish but they allow the darkness and complexity also to come through. The conducting gets the job and very well with good musicality and sense of line, the tempos were also solid with only Batti Batti being questionable. The balance between the orchestra and singers wasn't always balanced though. The performances are very good though. Andrew Jones sings Masetto nicely, though a little too subdued. Taryn Fiebig's Zerlina is adorable and quite sunny with a bright agile voice, her only problem was her diction which was not always clear. People may find Jacqueline Dark a little matronly for Elvira, but her ability to capture the spiteful and sympathetic natures of the role and her beautiful make for a spot-on interpretation. The Commendatore of Daniel Sumegi is intimidating, with a great command to his singing. Henry Choo doesn't make Ottavio's role thankless and his vocals show a lovely lyric tenor. Conrad Coad, despite the physical implausibilities mentioned earlier, is loyal, bumbling and humorous and he sings sonorously and stylish. Rachelle Durkin's singing is technically accomplished and solid as rocks, and she handles the fiery and vengeful parts of Donna Anna very well, while also letting us feel sympathy for her. Teddy Tahu Rhodes carries the production and also walks away with it. He mayn't have the best Italian, but his tall, handsome physique, warm dark-toned voice, great musicianship and authoritative acting- that explores all of Giovanni's character traits- helped to make a wholly memorable performance.

In conclusion, very good though it falls a little short. 8/10 Bethany Cox