Steph Walker reviews Gioachino Rossini’s Le comte Ory, presented by NZ Opera with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, directed by Simon Philips and conducted by Brad Cohen, at the Isaac Theatre Royal, Thursday 27 June, 2024.
Rossini’s Le comte Ory. As an arts lover but opera casual I wasn’t super familiar with it, but Rossini’s famous The Barber Of Seville is probably THE comic opera in the limited opera canon, the one that got big from his catalogue of largely funny operas. He makes for a fun night out, and Le comte Ory had the audience giggling away all night too. NZ Opera said they were aiming for joy with this one, and they hit the mark. Turns out largely unknown words make for a great introduction to just what you can do with opera.
We enter the theatre to what immediately feels to me like a very Central Otago scene. The red wooden station in the middle (is that Glenorchy?) and an AA signpost on either side pointing, on the right, to the campground, and, on the left, to WhareOra – the house of wellness. I feel the first series of Top of the Lake about to start. Instead, as the overture starts we see the WAGs of the New Zealand rugby team wave off their men, hand over their phones and head into a restorative retreat together. Soon after, what appears to be the Aussie rugby team arrive at the campground, and the sign for $25 permits soon gets a makeover to say $250 Hermit.
Being the rare breed of avid sports fan and arts lover, I can assuredly tell you that the poor Aussie rugby team can’t get a break in real life, and so the idea of the team having their Mad Monday capers at a local campground in the middle of mainland New Zealand isn’t the suspension of disbelief many may think. Playing silly buggers at the end of a season is still tradition, so in seeing team captain Ory (Manase Latu, a fantastically lyric tenor) wrap a saffron robe over his golden Aussie uniform, chuck on a swimcap and proclaim himself a guru you know men are about to begin behaving badly. The whole team are in on it, including Ory’s best made Raimbaud (Moses Mackay) but they’ve managed to ditch their coach, deftly and deeply played by Wade Kernot, and the physio – more on her later.
Of course, the locals fall for the act, particularly the womenfolk, including one Ragonde (Andrea Creighton), PA to Adele (Emma Pearson), host of the WAGs. Adele is melancholy (and beautifully melodiously sung by Pearson), and Ragonde has come to book an appointment with the Guru to help. I am sure you can imagine how Ory would like to help her. The lustful capers begin.
Added to the lusting is Isolier, Ory’s physio. In the 1820s, when the opera was originally written, Isolier was what is known as a “pants role” where a woman would play a man for musical reasons. Director Simon Phillips has instead put the lesbian physio in shorts, and cast Polish mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp. Hipp is at the forefront of the physical, almost slapstick, comedy that is a constant through this performance, the double takes, track backs and reveals being highlights for me.
The physical comedy is there from the get go. Mackay’s Rainbaud rushes around with a stool for Ory to eventually not sit on, and in the second act we’re treated to yoga and stretches, and the choreographed reveal of a disappointing meal to a team of men dressed as escapees from a religious sect – yes, probably the one you’re thinking of.
The vast schist-framed set is filled with ensemble comedy work near-constantly, particularly in the second act when it is transformed into the wood+stone magnificence of Chateau Whareora. Designer Tracy Grant Lord has created instantly identifiable spaces and places, and coupled with her costuming, full of different colours and textures, she’s created a slice of Aotearoa I recognise instantly.
The performers are all solid quality. I marvel at the talent NZ Opera lures to our shores alongside our most accomplished homegrown talent. The mighty Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Brad Cohen, made Moses Mackay sound a bit thin at times though. My fellow audience member, a first time opera-goer, was simply in awe at the lack of mics. Kernot’s tone, Latu’s lyrical dexterity, and the duets of Pearson and Hipp all stood out, clearly ringing out in the Isaac Theatre Royal. When I auditioned for music school years ago, they told me I would have to drop my theatre major. I politely declined, alarmed they thought acting wasn’t a skill a singer should have. The stars of Le comte Ory clearly didn’t go to that music school; their performances were physical, believable and had great comic timing.
It’s all very silly, and constantly so. Simon Phillips is a mastermind of theatricality, his years as Artistic Director of Melbourne Theatre clearly contributing to his skill with timing and connections. It all shows why he’s in demand across global musical and opera circles. His experience in adaptations shines through here too, with Le comte Ory not only modernised in synopsis, but in the translation of the lyrics too.
Thing is, the best on-ground award goes to those lyric surtitles, but in hindsight that is not really where the goal should land. Director Phillips has translated the French-sung lyrics into localised patter: “come off it bro” amongst the men, the Guru being proclaimed “the bees knees of inner peace”, and even emojis stealing the show. The comic timing does a constant two-step, the physical comedy and the written humour taking turns but never quite landing together.
We all have, I am sure, something that comes to mind when we think about “opera”. It may be of ye olden times, of a large brunhilde cranking out some Wagner (the show’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings styles), or it may be of a tragic tale where everyone dies. NZ Opera have been railing against the tropes on and off for a while now, toying with scale and with the contemporary. With Rossini’s Le comte Ory, they’ve gone a different tack – localised and very very funny.
Le comte Ory plays once more in Ōtautahi Christchurch. as part of its national tour, on Saturday 29 June, 2024.
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