London Coliseum, 21 November 2015

Jonathan Miller’s production of The Mikado reached its 200^th performance at ENO with the current revivals – and it still sparkles and entertains as well as it ever did. This is something we will need to return to before the end, but for the moment lets enjoy the success of a fine evening – as much musically as dramatically.

Anthony Gregory is a young singer who is really making his mark. The voice is full and his personality communicates with the audience without obvious exertion. His Nanki-Poo is deft in its reserved approach to life and his singing wins our hearts. If Mary Bevan’s Yum-Yum seems at times to be a little too knowing this is very much in keeping with the approach, and her singing of The Sun whose rays was heart-melting. Richard Suart seems to have been part of the production as Ko-Ko since the start, yet there is nothing jaded about his characterisation which communicates with ease throughout. His Little List was suitably updated, raising extra laughs, though it was noteworthy that Gilbert’s original text raised just as many laughs across the evening. Where elderly critics like myself were brought up on G&S – and have to supress a desire to sing-along to every word – there were obviously large numbers in the audience last night who were unfamiliar with the work or Gilbert’s dry humour.

Graeme Danby and George Humphreys as Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush showed us how important it is to sing Sullivan as if it were Donizetti, as well as creating believable civil servants. Yvonne Howard is certainly not as plain as Gilbert would like Katisha to be, which makes the denouement for Ko-Ko much easier to accept.  Richard Angus had for so many years been at the heart of the evening as The Mikado as to be a hard act to follow but Robert Lloyd had no problem assuming the vast costume and even bigger character. Let us hope that when it is revived again – as I expect it to be – he and Richard Suart will still be in tow.

Conductor Fergus Macleod may only be 28 but his grasp of the score and his handling of the whole evening was stunningly effective. He seemed to have an innate understanding of the pace needed for G&S and allowed the genuinely romantic moments to blossom. I am sure we will see him again soon.

As for the production, it is now almost thirty years old but has certainly not outstayed its welcome. The tap dancing waiters, the use of affectation in the pronunciation of the text, the comic details which never up-stage the narrative, all demonstrate the strength of the approach. The same is true not just of Jonathan Miller’s other productions – La Boheme, Rigoletto – but of many recent ENO productions. We have had some which have been exemplary and which I have rightly praised here, but we have had others – the recent La Boheme among them – which have not been as good as the production they replaced. The Board at ENO really does need to give careful thought to what it is offering its audiences. Of course we do not want to get stale, but there is a danger of throwing out the effective old for an inferior new.

London Coliseum, 18 November 2015

I gather that this new production will be broadcast by the BBC over the Christmas period. Listen to it, as musically it is a delight throughout, and has managed to assemble some of the finest singers we have heard even when compared to recent outstanding singing at the Coliseum.

The leads provide substantial voices with Tamara Wilson and Gwyn Hughes Jones frequently thrilling as Leonora and Alvaro. Anthony Michaels-Moore is a dark toned Carlo, his emotional turmoil always evident in the voice. James Creswell is a strangely ambivalent Father Superior and the production does not allow us to guess how sympathetic he may be to Leonora’s situation.

The chorus are on top form and Mark Wigglesworth brings splendid nobility and fire to the orchestra.

So far so good. This is joint production with the Metropolitan Opera and there are different expectations across the pond, where the music comes first and foremost. This may account for many of the strange decisions which Calixto Bieito makes in his production. Rebecca Ringst provides some of the largest sets I can recall at the Coliseum. Vast white buildings fill the stage, smoothly moved even with cast upon them. They have a sepulchral feel to them which is in keeping with the narrative and should be very effective. However very little happens within them. The chorus regularly appear as a block who simply stand and sing. There are many occasions when we seem to be at a costumed concert performances rather than a staging of the work. There is no battle in Act 3 and throughout the scene Carlo and Alvaro simply stand and stare at us.

When there is any action it is vicious and often at odds with the text. Rinat Shaham’s Preziosilla continuously assaults a pregnant woman before calmly executing a line of captured (or fleeing) civilians. Blood flows frequently, right from the first scene where Leonora smashes a plate and cuts her hand. Her preparation for her retreat as a hermit includes a crown of thorns made of barbed-wire. Only Friar Melitone – a splendid crisp characterisation from Andrew Shore – makes sense under the circumstances. The Friar is normally played as a comic character but here his attack on the depravity of the inn scene makes depressing sense.

This has proved to be a bumpy season so far. Some superb music making but more dubious decisions both by way of productions and choices for revivals. Let us hope it picks up after Christmas.