Béatrice et Bénédict is Much Ado About Nothing without the Ado.
Tovey’s dig at Berlioz’s opéra-comique is an old one – but it came to mind repeatedly during this performance, a revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s 1994 production.
By stripping Shakespeare’s plot of most of its dramatic substance, Berlioz created a maddeningly limp piece of theatre. It needs to be delivered, if at all, con amore.
No problem on that score: this is one of WNO’s best-loved productions, and designer Michael Yeargan’s Sicilian palazzo and Dona Granata’s costumes remain as gorgeous as ever. The whole piece seemed to bask in Mediterranean warmth. Moshinsky’s detailed characterisation was still there, but awkward gaps and missed comic beats suggested that – as sometimes happens in revivals – the spark had gone missing. It glowed, but it didn’t ignite. The biggest laughs came from Donald Maxwell in the non-singing (and non-Shakespearean) role of Somarone.
Robin Tritschler was a light-voiced, plausibly charming Benedict, and Sara Fulgoni’s big-toned, feisty Beatrice struck real sparks off him in the few scenes where Berlioz allowed it. Meanwhile, Hero (Laura Mitchell) and Ursula (Anna Burford)’s poised moonlit duet was the evening’s musical highlight, with conductor Michael Hofstetter caressing the magical orchestration. If only Berlioz had given us more.
