Not often done, Rossini's opera of Exodus has good music which is beautifully sung as one might expect from the WNO. A rich and powerful sound is produced as always by the fabulous WNO orchestra under the baton of Carlo Rizzi. So what went wrong? Well, not to put too fine a point on it the design and direction were a mess. There, I've said it.
If you were to close your eyes this would be a 4* production. In fact I would have genuinely preferred to see this as a concert performance though most concert performances are less static than this! We were presented pretty well throughout with two blocks of colour, red for the Egyptians and blue for the Hebrews. This was emphasised by red and blue lighting and, in case we hadn't got the unsubtle hint, the cast were also dressed, and made up, in red and blue. Head to foot. Except Moses who was in off-white but with a strange wig that looked to have blue and yellow lumps on top making him look, thanks to a blacked nose, a little like a colourful spaniel. The chorus looked like nothing more than a Welsh Male Voice Choir fresh from the pit - I felt quite sorry for them as they appeared to have little idea what they were supposed to do ...
Add to this poor lighting leaving people curiously dark and actors unable to find their lights (if there are four spots on the stage and four people singing then if you are in darkness its because there is an empty pool of light .... it is not rocket science!) ...
Finally, when the set did move, we were presented with two three story structures which were then unused ... lots of ladders and platforms and only one non-stage level occupied .... oh, and I now know how Moses parted the red (or in this case red and blue) sea ... 10 burly stage hands in black and wearing headphones wheeled it around.... either move staging with visible people or with hidden people, having hands stroll onto stage and move things while pretending not to be there simply doesn't work! I'm actually not sure why the Hebrew people needed to cross the Red Sea, only 2 Egyptians were chasing them! And having crossed they came back to make a final tableau with the red team. Barking mad.
So, so disappointed ... like I say, at least the music and singing was great but for the rest .... I am (despite the rant above) speechless!!
