Review
Festival Opera - Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci
Music Director and Conductor, José Aparicio. Napier Municipal Theatre,
Tuesday 18 February.
Reviewed by Peter Williams
Again this year a spectacular Festival Opera production heralding the start of the annual Art Deco celebrations.
Each opera in this double bill has its dark side, leading to a tragic final scene, examples of verismo – the depiction of aspects of the sometimes brutality of real life - combined, as in I Pagliacci, with sparkling humour.
Cavalleria Rusticana is the story of unfaithful love with its inevitable, dire consequences, coloured by the deeply religious sentiments of a traditional Sicilian village. I Pagliacci is a play within a play presented in the second act by a troupe of travelling actors, where the plot becomes the chilling reality of life in the village where the play is performed.
Tenor Rosario La Spina, as the philandering Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio, the leader of the troupe in I Pagliacci, and baritone José Carbó as Alfio, the travelling salesman in Cavalleria Rusticana and The Fool in I Pagliacci, gave standout performances both dramatically and vocally in both operas.