KEY POINTS:
It is not difficult to see why Lindy Hume's persuasive production of Lucia di Lammermoor brought out "Full House" signs for its Wellington season last month.
Emotions blaze in the brutal chill of baronial Scotland; surrounded by strutting macho males, Donizetti's Lucia asserts herself in a world that would smother her - all presented with the clench of theatrical immediacy.
The NBR New Zealand Opera has assembled a top-notch team for its first presentation of 2007. Phillip Dexter's virtuoso lighting is apparent from his opening silhouette of the hunters with Enrico's party in sharp relief above. Kate Hawley's sets are at their most dramatic in the "trophy room" of Lammermoor Castle, with its sculptural panels of deer antlers, but the New Zealand designer's acumen can also be enjoyed in the subtle play of muted tones in the costumes.
Elvira Fatykhova's Lucia is no hapless maiden, but a flesh-and-blood woman. The Russian soprano hints at her character's vulnerability in the early Regnava nel Silenzio and holds nothing back in her great duet with Edgardo.
As staged by Hume, Lucia's confrontation with her brother Enrico (a superbly dark and malevolent Jason Howard) is played cat-and-mouse, around a vast baronial table. Most sinister of all, on the side of the stage her companion Alisa has been forced to watch.
Edgardo is handsome Bulgarian tenor Yvan Momirov, who wears his greatcoat impressively and sings with passion but with tightish tone in curious-sounding Italian.
Not that this diminishes the thrilling fury of his closing aria in Act Two, or the tension of his confrontation with Howard in the third act.
It is in this final act that Hume creates coup after coup, crowned by Fatykhova's Mad Scene. Here we are drawn into the heart of the tragedy, phrase by phrase, with impeccable coloratura. Fatykhova's recreation of the wedding-that-never-was is heart-rending.
Other roles are solidly filled. Carmel Carroll brings humanity and warmth to the loyal Alisa, Jud Arthur a real menace to Raimondo and Benjamin Fifita Makisi presents the thankless role of Arturo with a well-turned lyricism.
The Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus is in good voice and responds well to Hume's adroit choreographing, especially when revelry is called for.
With musical matters leaving little to be desired, thanks to the masterly baton of Andrea Licata and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in sonorous form, Lucia di Lammermoor is, quite simply, not to be missed.
