Viva Verdi! at the Aotea Centre

By HEATH LEES

Aotea Centre Reviewer: Heath Lees Despite the authentic Verdi-ness of the title, this was not so much a shrine as a springboard - a musical extravaganza that grouped Verdi's works under advertising-type headings with big, serious-sounding words like "creative", "collaborative" and "connective".

When the buzzword was "collaboration", Violetta found that her Alfredo wasn't ready, so had to improvise until he appeared. When Verdi was deemed to be "juggling" his talents, beach balls were thrown around. Get the idea?

The great advantage was in the smooth continuity from one number to the next, with none of the usual embarrassing walk-ons.

On the downside was the fact that truth was often distorted. Verdi's 80-year life did have a natural growth, and it is wrong to have a fragment of the 1874 Requiem under the banner "fiasco" and then follow up with a slogan of "rising above the fiasco" and an item from Ernani - an opera which Verdi wrote 30 years earlier.

Clearly the show was designed by and for the young. With Tracey Collins and Bryan Caldwell in charge, high voltage was expected, and it had its appealing side. All the zany costumes had connections to one of Verdi's 27 operas.

Lighting was - forgive the pun - electrifying and did much to aid the quick changes of mood.

Star performers were the Chapman Tripp chorus, with a big sound when necessary yet sensitive at the right moments. We got the really soft contrasts of the triumphal march from Aida, and the men's difficult entries were perfectly pitched, partly due to conductor Nicholas Braithwaite's spot-on tempi and control.

Soloists included the excellent tenor John Daszak and baritone Rodney Macann in top form. Soprano Julia Melinek arrived on what looked like a huge blancmange, and her voice frequently wobbled in sympathy.

This was no crowd-pulling string of "Verdi's Greatest Hits". It was less a celebration of Verdi than a display of how his art can be wrapped up today, perhaps to the benefit of us all. Then again, perhaps not.