© Johan Persson
Jonathon McGovern a charismatic Don Giovanni at Garsington
I hugely enjoyed Don Giovanni at Garsington last night. Jonathan McGovern in the title role and David Ireland as his long suffering Leporello were a perfect match, Michael Boyd's production making perfect sense bringing clarity to their relationship. And this clarity informed Boyd's production throughout, something that is important to a theatre director which so often eludes so many of their purely operatic brethren. But while this was a great evening of theatre the musical pleasures remained dominant - Prima la musica, dopo le parole - the old argument! We had that last year with Capriccio and don't need to pursue the matter further!
© Johan Persson
Finale Act 1 - the great escape!
The male cast was completed by the most elegant young Mozartian of the day, Trystan Llyr Griffiths, the imposing young bass Thomas Faulkner as Masetto, and the hugely experienced and imposing Paul Whelan as Commendatore. Sky Ingram was a splendidly angry Donna Elvira - most impressive, Camila Titinger a deeply traumatised Donna Anna, and Mireille Asselin a convincingly defiant Zerlina. It was a wonderfully prepared and well balanced cast delivering top notch music making under the increasingly authoritative Douglas Boyd - who is also Garsington's Artistic Director.
This was not your everyday Don Giovanni production - much much more interesting than that.
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