In March, the creative producer of Opera in a Day’s Bay Garden gave Wellington a highly entertaining production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in the superb acoustic of her historic garden. On 1 December, Rhona Fraser did it again with a sparkling evening of vocal fireworks and hilarious antics in a very rare opera, Rossini’s The Journey to Rheims (Il Viaggio a Reims).

The publicity describes this as a “party opera”, and that it certainly is, both in effect – the audience was in continual fits of laughter – and in content. The final third is a party at which many of the characters present songs of their homelands (making Journey a sort of Nutcracker for singers!). The virtuoso singing voice is the focus of this opera, and having fun is the focus of this production… and great fun it is! 

Director Sara Brodie’s conception of the opera is as an operatic version of Hotel Babylon, with situations and characters as fraught, sexy and glamorous as the TV show. As she did for Figaro, the costuming mixes historic and contemporary, with gold braid and brocade alongside T-shirts, bathrobes and a bikini (plus plenty of bare male flesh!).

The costumes were cleverly selected to suit the diverse cast of characters as Brodie interpreted them: a fashion-obsessed French contessa in ‘Lady Gaga’ corset and lacy tights; a passionate Russian count with a roving eye and a ready gun; a glamorous ‘A-list’ poet (the bikini); a secret agent (complete with electronic gadgets) masquerading as a punk English nobleman; and a self-obsessed French cavalier film star (with abs to match!)… to name but a few.

This interpretation is most effective for an opera that is unashamedly low in plot (it is sometimes described as a cantata) and high in the vocal bravura that characterises opera from the first half of the 19th century, known as the bel canto style.

Composed for the celebrations in Paris following the 1825 coronation of France’s last King, Charles X, the opera portrays a group of frivolous European aristocrats and attendants travelling to Charles’ coronation in Rheims (the ancient seat of France’s medieval kings). Due to a shortage of horses (or Harleys!), they are stranded at a spa hotel in Plombières les Bains (near the Swiss border) and miss the coronation.

Their collective chagrin at missing such an ‘A-list’ event, along with their complex love affairs and neuroses, gave Rossini the opportunity to showcase his supremacy at composing virtuosic vocal music for different moods and modes, from languishing solo laments and combative duets, to complex ensembles for as many as 14 voices.

Rossini’s efforts won him the appointment as Composer to the King, a post which funded him to compose more operas, including Le Comte Ory (for which he re-used some of this music) and his masterpiece Guilliame Tell (William Tell, with the overture of Lone Ranger fame). Unfortunately, Rossini picked the wrong horse, as Charles was deposed by the revolution of 1830, ending Rossini’s lucrative contract.

The score of Journey was not published then, and was believed lost until the 1970s when parts were found in several libraries and the score was reconstructed. Soon after, producer Rhona Fraser sang in the British premiere at The Guildhall School of Music in London. This memory prompted her to produce Journey in New Zealand as a showcase for the talents of local singers – and what a spectacular line-up of talent she has gathered!  

Best known is superb tenor Ben Fifita Makisi, who sings the gold-encrusted Russian Conte di Libenskof. Ben impressed this reviewer with his ability to fine down his big verissmo voice to navigate the intricacies of Rossini’s demanding melismas.

His proven comic talents are well-matched by newcomer Maaike Christie-Beekman as his lover, the fiery Polish Marchesa Melibea. A rich-voiced mezzo of clear experience and superb technique, she shaped the intricate phrases as effortlessly as she taunted and then seduced her lover in their magnificent three-part duet (‘Di che son reo? – D’alma celeste, oh Dio’). A recent immigrant from the Netherlands, Maaike Christie-Beekman is a great new asset to the New Zealand opera scene. 

Another whose singing impressed all hearers was Olga Gryniewicz, a recent graduate of the New Zealand School of Music (NZSM) here in Wellington. She sang the vocally demanding coloratura role of the Contessa di Folleville, who is made distraught by the loss of her luggage (and is thus scantily attired). Her bright, silvery soprano is ideal, and the florid phrases were cleverly used to create drama and garner laughs – only a soprano can use the voice as an offensive weapon!

The role of the celebrity Italian poet, Corinna, was admirably sung by Amelia Berry. She is another highly talented product of the NZSM, and is off to the USA next year for further study. Amelia was unfazed by her director’s demands, singing beautifully while leaning out of a high window, stripping to a bikini, and fighting off wannabe lovers. Her first aria ‘Stars of unity will shine on high’ inspired the director’s ever-fertile imagination to make Corinna the EU rep, so her elegant Roman-inspired gown (and the bikini) were appropriately blue with gold stars. 

Pursuing her (but catching a chorus girl) is Cavalier Belfiore, sung by another NZSM recent graduate Michael Gray, the second of the opera’s amazing line-up of tenors. His mellifluous voice and well-honed presence ideally suits his role as the film star cavalier, and he sang with as great aplomb as he performed while stripped to shorts.

Yet another strip was performed on young bass Kieran Raynor, playing the English Lord Sidney who falls heavily for Corinna. Sara Brodie also made him a punk-disguised secret agent (as part of a manufactured subplot about a terrorist threat), so the strip and massage by the Chorus girls (all while he was singing!) was to obtain his weapon and wire. This triple character allowed Raynor to exhibit his facility with accents, and to make his ‘turn’ at the party into an hilarious punk version of ‘God Save the Queen’, a la the Sex Pistols! 

The role of the social climbing Swiss hotelier Madame Cortese was beautifully sung by the versatile Rhona Fraser, who is not only the producer of the opera but also the hostess! Her provision of her own garden and terrace, with its superb natural acoustics, to perform these operas is what makes these performances so special, and she and her family are to be sincerely congratulated – Wellington opera goers are in her debt! 

Paired with Madame was Roger Wilson’s Don Profundo, a bumbling academic (and another of Brodie’s secret agents?). Roger’s admired bass and comic talents were on full display in this role, especially his patter song while searching the hotel guests’ luggage. This allowed him to showcase his collection of accents to match the nationality of each case’s owner, much to the entertainment of the audience. 

An assured performance as the spa doctor (Don Prudenzio) was given by NZSM student Thomas Barker, who has a warm baritone and strong stage presence. The Spanish Admiral Don Alvaro was played by Orene Tiai, who danced flamenco style as he sang. This young singer already has a strong, appealingly lyrical voice that will surely grow bigger in coming years. Michel Alkhouri as the musical Barone di Trombonok offered a mature baritone and suitably finicky character, with his long hair suiting his attire as a 19th nobleman.

Two more tenors (where did she find them?!) filled the smaller roles of the courier Luigino (complete with bike and helmet!) and the hotel majordomo Antonio. These roles were well-performed (respectively) by Jonathan Abernathy and Charles Wilson, the last entertainingly camp and catty behind his boss’s back.

A charming presence, but often mute except for choruses, was Rose Blake playing Delia, Corinna’s maid (and implied lover). Another role high in character but unfortunately low in solos was sung by talented mezzo Bianca Andrew (Cherubino in March), who played the Contessa’s discontented maid Modestina. The director had Modestina reveal herself in the finale as the suicide bomber the secret agents were hunting, complete with a vest of dynamite… which failed to ignite, so the party wasn’t spoilt.

The Chorus was the hotelier’s overworked staff, made up mostly of students from the NZSM or recent graduates. All performers of ability, their singing was excellent and their acting added plenty of laughs.

In many ways, conductor Michael Vinten had the hardest job, as he not only made the complex music come alive faultlessly on the night but had also done the orchestral reduction. The band beautifully balanced the singers, with just two clarinets and one each of flute, oboe, horn and double bass. Richard Mapp filled in the rest on the keyboard, providing harpsichord and strings sound, including Corinna’s harp.

But it was Sara Brodie’s endless inventiveness that made the biggest impression on this reviewer. Her ability to develop the characters from their music and invent evermore hilarious and outrageous gags to keep the audience in a continual bubble of laughter, punctuated by guffaws, was admirable.

A celebration this opera most certainly is – a celebration of the joys of singing and of the way music can lift the spirits. The effervescence of Rossini’s music, combined with complementary bubbles, a balmy evening and an interval picnic in the beauties of the garden, made this a sparkling and highly entertaining evening of vocal fireworks.

The secret is clearly out, as the season was sold out from opening night. So if you missed out this time, keep an eye out for the next production from Opera in a Day’s Bay Garden – you’re guaranteed a great night out! 
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