Turandot

21 Jan-19 Mar ,

Theatre reviews

Critics' choice

Who would walk the aisle with me must answer first these questions three…

First published on 1 Sep 2011. Updated on 20 Mar 2012.

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This Turandot, directed by Graeme Murphy, was first performed in 1990 – one expects that its false teeth go in a jar beside the bed every night. But what is astounding about it all is that it still retains an unerring sense of vitality. There’s a lovely flow to proceedings on stage, due of course to Puccini’s score (tragically unfinished). Yet it is Murphy that has woven everything together, his choreographing of the chorus particularly fine: where in other productions one often feels that parts of the music are merely obstacles to be waded through, in this he manages to keep us in the moment, to make organic what might seem forced. The chorus bobs and weaves across the stage, undulating like an ultra-refined Mexican wave at times, capturing the beauty of an inertial sea as the music washes over us.

Calaf (Rosario La Spina) is the exiled prince, now living in China, who challenges the Princess Turandot (Susan Foster) to her morbid Q&A – any suitor who can answer her three riddles wins her as a prize or loses their head in the attempt. (One may think these rules a tad harsh, but one needs only look across the sea to Japan and its masochistic television game shows to see that the tradition is still alive.) Liu (Daria Masiero), a slave girl, begs Calaf not to play, but even though he knows of her love for him, he refuses her. And so fate grinds forwards and woe betide anyone caught in the cogs.

Armo Volmer conducts the spectacle of the evening, as the audience is treated to the sinister and smoky darkness of the night and the glowing splendor of the court. Amidst the flutters and twirls of the fans and cloths gyrated around the stage by the chorus are the characters’ high emotions. La Spina gives a greatly stirring rendition of Nessun Dorma, his voice filled with an earthy elasticity that suggests the notes are pulled from his soul. Masiero acquits herself rather well, while Foster proves herself more than up to the icy task. Jud Arthur as Timur the exiled king provides a weighty grounding to the others, while Andrew Moran, David Corcoran, and Graeme Macfarlane as Ping, Pong, and Pang prove themselves tonally and charismatically skillful. Musically, visually, and dramatically, this production of Turandot is one to be treasured.

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Words by Tomas Boot