It was opening night for LA TRAVIATA, the revived and revamped production by Welsh National Opera at the Wales Millennium Centre. A night at the opera is always a special one, but last night you could really feel the excitement build, and by the time we made it into the Donald Gordon theatre, the atmosphere was electrifying.
Based on Alexandre Dumas fils’s novel, La Dame aux Camélias – La Traviata is Giuseppe Verdi’s 19th and most iconic opera. If you don’t know opera, you most certainly will recognise some of the most evocative arias and melodies including the instantly recognisable Brindisi (the drinking song) and the beautifully poignant finale, Addio del passato.
Incidentally, La Traviata also inspired and featured in the classic film Pretty Woman.
The plot of Verdi’s opera is fairly straightforward, with love and passion at its very heart. A dashing social-climber – Alfredo (DAVID JUNGHOON KIM) falls in love with a former courtesan – Violetta (STACEY ALLEAUME) at one of her parties, where he discovers that she is seriously ill. After a whirlwind romance, Violetta is visited by Alfredo’s father Giorgio (MARK S DOSS), who disapproves of the link between the socially questionable Violetta and his wholesome family and particularly his daughter, whose engagement is threatened by the family’s connection to Violetta.
Breaking up the couple, Giorgio sets in motion a tragic sequence of events: loving self-sacrifice from Violetta, rage and confusion from Alfredo, jealousy between two rival suitors, and eventually a passionate reunion which ends, sadly, in Violetta’s succumbing to tuberculosis in the arms of weeping Alfredo.
The reaction from the opening night audience at the Wales Millennium Centre says it all, as you can see. Also in the audience, and thoroughly enjoying the production, was Wales First Minister MARK DRAKEFORD. We caught up with some of them after the performance, and also one of the stars of the show, David Junghoon Kin.
The three leads are truly outstanding, with deep, passionate performances from each of them.
As Violetta, Stacey brought great warmth and her vocal range is truly impressive. Her farewell aria will leave you breathless. Violetta has a lot of emotions to go through, particularly those around her illness. Stacy delivered not only a brilliant vocal, but also lived, breathed and took us through all of her characters suffering and pain.
David as Alfredo was every bit the young man about town. When he entered the party at the opening of Act I he was was clearly the centre of attention but at all times his love for Violetta was clear. David sang beautifully, particularly in Act II in the thoughtful aria De miei bollenti spiriti‘. Then his passion grew as he came to realise he was a kept man by the woman who sacrificed it all for him.
Mark sang Georgio Germont, Alfredo’s father. From the moment he entered the stage you were taken by his impressive presence and incredible baritone voice. It is warm and rich and is the perfect tone for a man attempting to dominate his sons relationship with Violetta with his own misguided superiority.
DAVID MCVICAR’S staging (directed for the revival by SARAH CRISP) is relatively simple but nevertheless brilliant. Designer TANYA MCCALLIN sets take us from party to bedroom with grand opulence all around. Yet somehow you are reminded that death is never far away with black drapes enveloping the splendour. This in part is down to lighting designer JENNIFER TIPTON who filled the space around the sets with a mix of splendour and desperate isolation.
As Mark Drakeford said in our video above, the orchestra and voices are truly the star of this production and that is really shown off in Act II. As we joined a picture perfect Tuscan country set for yet another party, the singing was beautiful and the dancing both playful and powerful.
Conductor ALEXANDER JOEL guided one of our finest orchestras through a faultless performance. Everything about Verdi’s music is romantic, intense and at times will leave you emotionally drained.
The impressive Chorus, who fill the Donald Gordon stage in both Acts are visually and vocally spectacular. The sound they create is incredible and really surrounds this large auditorium.
There was a lot of opera first-timers in the audience last night, and La Traviata is a great place to start. The surtitles, in both Welsh and English will easily allow you to follow the story, without any distraction to the performance. If you are new to this production, we’ve included a small guide to the main characters at the bottom of this page.
This production is truly impressive, with performances which are energetic, emotional and at times playful. The entire company are superb with stand-out performances from our main leads. We are blessed to have such a company in Wales with the WNO and this production shows them at their very best.
La traviata returns to the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on Saturday 23rd, Thursday 28th and Saturday 30th September. Performances are at 7:30pm apart from Saturday 23rd which starts at 3pm. For details and tickets go – HERE.
The production gets to Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Thursday 12th and Saturday 14th October, performances are at 7:30pm. For details and tickets go – HERE.
You can also take a look at our WNO Autumn feature HERE.
La Traviata – Who are the key characters?
Violetta Valéry — a courtesan (soprano)
Alfredo Germont — a young bourgeois (tenor)
Giorgio Germont — his father (baritone)
Baron Douphol — client of Violetta and Alfredo’s rival (baritone)
Flora — friend of Violetta (mezzo-soprano)
Annina — Violetta’s maid
