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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rimsky gets the Kabuki treatment!, 19 Sep 2004
By A Customer
This production of Rimsky-Korsakov's satirical fairy-tale opera 'Le Coq d'Or', 'The Golden Cockerel', comes from the Chatelet Theatre, Paris, and is staged by an all-Japanese creative team, led by Ennosuke Ichikawa, a leading Kabuki actor. He has staged the action (fittingly, as Pushkin, whose story the opera is based, set it in "a certain far-off kingdom") as Kabuki theatre. Rimsky wrote the opera as a political satire on the events of the Russian-Japanese conflicts at the time, so this treatment seems doubly appropriate.The staging is simple, but highly effective, the costumes lavish. King Dodon is sung impressively by the bass Albert Schagidullin; the Queen of Shemakha is sung by Olga Trifonova, who copes well with the highly chromatic phrases Rimsky wrote for her Act II aria. Worth a special mention is the Astrologer of Barry Banks - this is part is written for a very high tenor and Banks sings the part thrillingly; his acting too is very good, and he takes on the Kabuki movements and gestures most convincingly. The production is well-lit with superb sound. If you don't know the opera, or perhaps are only familiar with the orchestral music that Rimsky drew up into a suite, then do take the chance to investigate this further. The music is rich and colourful, as you'd expect from the composer of 'Scheherazade' and, at under two hours, it never outstays its welcome. With the lack of a decent modern CD version of the opera (come on, Gergiev!), this should now be considered the primary recommendation for this work.
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