Theatre / Reviews
Review: Moses in Egypt, Bristol Hippodrome
Picture: Richard Hubert Smith
Welsh National Opera have a well-established tradition of structuring their tours by sandwiching a lesser-known piece between a couple of surefire hits. This year’s bums-on-seats extravaganza was Wednesday’s Carmen, and they’re obviously hoping for success with Saturday’s William Tell – but the tiddler of the bunch is Rossini’s Moses in Egypt.
Often these lesser-known operas have proved to be delightful, with Janá?ek’s Káta Kabanová and Handel’s Jephtha proving particularly memorable surprises from previous WNO tours.
So expectations run high for Moses in Egypt. This telling of the Exodus story has great credentials: glorious music by Rossini and colourful costumes inspired by the paintings of Chagall. But there are always going to be immense technical and conceptual challenges in staging miracles, plagues and the inevitable parting of the Red Sea.
When the opera was first performed in 1818 it was laughed off stage when the mechanics broke down and failed to deliver the promised spectacle. WNO have chosen the opposite approach.
The set is minimal to the point of bleak. It comprises a “sun”- rather like the dazzling one installed in Tate Modern`s Turbine Hall in 2013 – and two textured (and apparently horribly heavy) “flats” – one of bold red (representing Egypt) the other a vibrant blue (for Moses and the Hebrews).
The sun plays its part well. When it rises after a prolonged period of darkness in Egypt (and on the Hippodrome stage), it’s a very moving moment. But reconfiguring the flat blocks of colour is a cumbersome business. The all-too-frequent, curtain-down scene changes disrupt the dramatic flow and are tedious for the audience.
It’s Rossini’s music and the vocal performances that make this production so worthwhile. All the leads – Christine Rice, Claire Booth, Andrew Foster-Williams and Miklós Sebestyén as Moses – are sensational, and the orchestra’s sadly uncredited clarinettist deserves an ovation all of their own.
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