The foreboding walls of Netia Jones' set for her production of Verdi's Macbeth suggested grim times ahead, atmospheric orchestration subtly tinting the shadings of white, grey and black on stage. Then, synchronised to a massive
William Dart review: New Zealand Opera's Macbeth
William Dart
Phillip Rhodes as Macbeth and Amanda Echalaz as Lady Macbeth. Photo / Grant Triplow
Phillip Rhodes has the personality and dramatic chops to make Macbeth spring to life in a bare audition room. Tonight, he played the anti-hero as a caged tiger, pacing his palace, charting his crumbling decline in magnificent song.
Verdi stated that Lady Macbeth should not be beautifully sung, stipulating harsh, stifled and hollow vocal tones. But did this really sanction some of Amanda Echalaz's raw upper register and flailing vibrato?
Yet when the soprano relaxed in her final sleepwalking scene, she invested her monstrous character with an almost touching vulnerability. This scene was also one of many showcases for conductor Brad Cohen and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.
![Phillip Rhodes as Macbeth and Amanda Echalaz as Lady Macbeth. Photo / Grant Triplow](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/ES2I34CETXQ656NODONTPLOPMQ.jpg?auth=a519f70fe536de7fe65c95257cf1a4f961b9e8615d6b2740cf4889d36afb7d94&width=16&height=24&quality=70&smart=true)
Wade Kernot was a noble Banquo and Jared Holt delivered a showstopper in Macduff's fourth act aria.
Jones' brilliantly paced and placed banquet scene, breaking out of monochromatic gloom, benefitted from the contribution of a lusty Chapman Tripp chorus. The singers' later lament for their oppressed land would have had much appreciated political overtones for Verdi's audiences and, indeed, has resonance today.
What: Macbeth
Where: Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre
When: Wednesday
Reviewer: William Dart