September 18, 2005: Fanciulla del West in London

2005-09-18 La Fanciulla del West (Puccini), Royal Opera House, London

Minnie = Andrea Gruber
Dick Johnson (Ramirez) = José Cura
Jack Rance = Mark Delavan
Nick = Francis Egerton
Ashby = Robert Lloyd
Jake Wallace = Jonathan Lemalu
Sonora = Mark Stone
Bello = Grant Doyle
Happy = Jared Holt
Joe = Harry Nicoll
Larkens = Graeme Broadbent
Trin = Hubert Francis
Harry = Robert Murray
Sid = Adrian Clarke
José Castro = Jeremy White
Wowkle = Clare Shearer
Billy Jackrabbit = Graeme Danby

Antonio Pappano, conductor



La fanciulla del West

The Royal Opera 2005 - 2006

6:00 PM
18-Sep-05


Supported (2005) by The Jean Sainsbury Royal Opera House Fund

Sung in Italian with English surtitles

Running time: 3 hrs 30 mins

Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Director: Piero Faggioni
Set Designs: Kenneth Adam
Costume Designs: Piero Faggioni
Lighting: Piero Faggioni



My seat was better but the performance on Thursday was better I felt. This was just a nice Ch'ella mi creda where as Thursday had more passion. Mark Delavan was perhaps a bit better, but everything hung by a thread, nearly getting things right. The weak point of this production seem not to observe the details closely. More faithfulness to Belasco's play would have been a pluss. Minnie's portrait was not true the a real woman of the West, too much girlishness and to little of the pioneer woman, a woman who sleeps with her gun. Andrea Gruber should have been perfect, after all she has sung Turandot, not Liu.

After the opera, we waited for the stars to get out. Andrea Gruber I saw, but no photos did I take, she was walking fast, and when she stopped there was too many people between us. Harry Nicoll and the man who sang Nick, the same. But Mark Delavan and Robert Lloyd got photographed. Then Jose Cura came, his wife and his son Jose Ben was waiting for him. So Cura was invited behind the glass to sit and autograph and getting photographed. Of course we were plenty people there almost all with cameras.

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