Bellini's opera The Capulets and The Montagues, composed in haste in 1830, is now embarked on an extensive tour of the UK by ETO, English Touring Opera, in an accomplished and moving production by director Eloise Lally.
The original adaptation is loosely based on Shakespeare's version of the story with a much smaller cast of principles, a hearty all-male chorus and a changed ending. Lally follows the original opera in presenting Romeo as female, which opens up the delightful prospect of soprano and mezzo-soprano duets.
Moreover, Lally sets the performance in 1970s New York where Capellio's empire is represented by a sleasy diner where Giulietta is a tough waitress who pours out coffee and doesn't put up with any nonsense. The echoes of the The Godfather are strong, but this in no way diminishes the intensity of the love story and provides opportunities for a deeply emotive operatic score which also finds space for vigorous fight scenes.
The singing throughout is impressive. Jessica Cale as Giulietta has a voice that reaches the highest notes with confidence while still retaining the emotive content of quiet passages. Samantha Price as Romeo also has a lovely voice and performs her dying moments and grief with convincing sincerity. There is no hint of melodrama.
Brenton Spiteri as Tebaldo (Tybalt) reveals a delightful tenor voice and shows the variety of performance required by a role which includes violent physical action as well as reflective moments. Timothy Nelson is convincingly repressive as Juliet's authoritarian father, almost the villain of the piece.
Masimba (Ushe) takes on the role of Shakespeare's Friar Laurence, once more instrumental in providing a plan which leads to tragedy, but in this case conflicted by loyalty to his mafia-type boss while sympathetic to the young lovers.
The chorus of male singers provide a rich vocal sound and have excellent acting skills. In the opening scene, they are each introduced to the audience and present individual characteristics, which they retain throughout the opera and make them recognisable. They have much to do in the fight scenes, and it is interesting that the fight and movement directors came up with a freeze-frame technique inspired by the movies, which is demanding for the cast but means that action is suspended while arias are sung.
Musically, there is much of interest in the score. There is a lovely sequence in the first act when a harp is augmented by a flute, an oboe and clarinet, and this pattern recurs with other wind instruments at later stages. The vigorous music of the fight scenes provides structure and momentum for complex choreography provided by the fight and movement directors, Kaitlin Howard and Carmine De Amicis.
The sets designed by Lily Arnold are functional and full of interesting detail. The walls of the diner are covered with relevant posters. The counter of the diner becomes in act 2 a deathbed for Giulietta where she is laid out in her bridal dress and surrounded by flowers. The second act shows the outside of the diner with window sills revealing holy objects and the fabric of the building seriously damaged by factional attacks, or more abstractly providing a metaphor for the destroyed relationship of the young lovers.
It is interesting to note that, while the cast of the opera is substantially male, most of the creative team are female including the director and designer. The tour continues and can be seen at the Buxton Opera House on 9 April, Exeter Northcott on 15 and 17 April and The Marlowe, Canterbury on 23 April.