Verdi Traviata opera to libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Andrew Sinclair directed 2019-2020 the umpteenth revival at the Royal Opera House of their golden-egg-laying 1994 production by Richard Eyre. Stars Ermonela Jaho (Violetta Valéry), Charles Castronovo (Alfredo Germont), Plácido Domingo (Giorgio Germont), Simon Shibambu (Dr. Grenvil), Catherine Carby (Annina), Germán E. Alcántara (Baron Douphol), Aigul Akhmetshina (Flora Bervoix), Thomas Atkins (Gastone de Letorières), and Jeremy White (Marchese d'Obigny). Antonello Manacorda conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Sergey Levitin) and the Royal Opera Chorus (Chorus Director William Spaulding). Designs by Bob Crowley; lighting by Jean Kalman; movement direction by Jane Gibson. [No credit on package for TV director; has Ross MacGibbon programed a robot to record this show?] Sung in Italian. Released 2016, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
This is apparently the 17th revival of Eyre’s Traviata . Many famous stars have appeared in this production over the years. The Royal Opera scheduled the heck out of this through 2019 and on into 2020 with multiple casts, and it was shown around the world in movie houses.
Something this old runs the risk of becoming a mangy war horse or even a tourist trap. But Mark Pullinger, writing in the February 2020 Gramophone at pages 91-92 approves of Jaho, who gets “inside the character so thoroughly that one cannot help but suffer with her”, Charles Castronovo as “a splendid Alfredo”, and minor players like Jeremy White as d’Obigny. Mark is critical, however of Plácido Domingo, the once-great tenor now “masquerading as a baritone.” Stephen Francis Vasta disagrees in the June 2020 Opera News on page 50, where he pans much and struggles to find something nice to say — eventually he comes up with praise for the disc subtitles!
Here are a couple of YT clips of Jaho in this:
OR
