La Calisto
Royal Opera House
Tosca
Opera North, Leeds
It’s not often that you find the Royal Opera going as far back as the 17th century, no doubt for the good reason that operas written then are not suitable for performance in such large houses. That hasn’t daunted the director David Alden, who, together with his set designer Paul Steinberg, has located the action of Cavalli’s La Calisto in a grand hotel, with gods behaving badly in 1920s clothing. The era of the grand Art Deco hotel, with its atmosphere of illicit trysts and shady goings-on, is so potent that even when staying in a Travelodge I still have hopes that I shall come across some pale replica, but naturally in vain. The set, or sets, of this import from the Bavarian State Opera — since there’s a fair amount of swivelling and, appropriately, metamorphosing, not only of people but of place — provide plenty of pleasure for the three hours this frolic takes.
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