CREMONA – Much ado about nothing. This production of Traviata seemed destined to scandalize and cause much discussion. In the end, the goal was – partially – achieved: Traviata ended with aextensive dispute addressed to the director of Luca Baracchini. Whistles, “boo” and “shame” from the gallery to the stallsexpression of an audience that does not tolerate the purely provocative turn that often some opera directions end up taking. By itself, Baracchini’s idea immediately generates some doubts. The iconic and “always free” Violetta Valéry would originally be a man, who yearns in front of a mirror, not recognizing herself in his image of him, refusing what she sees, i.e. experiencing a discrepancy between what she is and what she feels she is . Violetta experiences the internal conflict of gender identity. The excuse is a couple of references from the libretto (‘Addio del past’ at the beginning of the third act, ‘l’immagine de my past days’ in the finale). There would therefore be a ‘transition’ in Violetta.
The problem with this set-up, however, arises from two fundamental reasons: first of all, what appears is that the director has substantially exploited Verdi’s message – misunderstanding it – in the wake of a political and ideological debate that has been deeply felt in Italy in recent years. An all too easy game today, but it’s hard to believe in the cultural-historical revisionism he wants in Giuseppe Verdi a progressive bulwark. The second reason is connected to the first: Verdi folds in the service of a unhistorical attempt to amaze the public, provoking it. This direction actually tries to scandalize the public, but using conventional methods and even a bit old-fashioned. There is nothing really revolutionaryon the contrary, there is far too much conformism in the desire to re-propose pseudo-provocative schemes and – whatever anyone says – imbued with ideology. In fact, if we strip this Traviata of the boulder of genre fluidity (in itself also quite well developed by the director), of vulgarity (for example, the choir of sadomasochistic gypsiesor the poetry of «Un dì felice, eterea» obscured by scenes with a sexual background), by nudity (prelude to the second act, with the male alter ego of Violetta who tries to emasculate herself) and by folklore (such as the omnipresent transvestites in the scene ), we just have a typical Traviata staging, already seen and revised.
By itself, the show would also work, even if it doesn’t particularly excite, or propose alternatives to the ‘traditional’ stagings of Traviata; as well as there is no shortage of passages that are quite significant, albeit somewhat rhetoricalon the theme of self-acceptance, and here the director is right: in an age of uproar, many are marginalized and not understood (Violetta is «alone and abandoned in this populous desert»). The occasion of this review is tempting to make a little reflection. If the theater – as this staging wants (or would like to) reaffirm – has to cause discussion, if it has to be a sort of agora where thoughts cross and collide, then not only must we not be scandalized by the thunderous protest raised by this direction, but we must even consider it an integral part of the artistic debate. Continuing, the scenes of Francesca Sgariboldi bring Traviata to our times with two fixed scenes, a disco and the house of Violetta and Alfredo (the lights of Gianni Bertoli). The costumes, also contemporary, are by Donato di Donna. Don’t hide behind the excuse of the bigoted public or not very open to contemporaneity or social issues: bad taste is bad taste (the first whistles come with the avoidable sadomasochistic scene in the middle of the second act). Luckily Verdi intervenes, whose music is far more difficult to counterfeit. Direction is in the hands and wand of Enrico Lombardiwho approaches a well-known score like that of Traviata trying to forget for a moment the traditional executive practice and trying to go back philologically to Verdi’s original. The result is a middle ground between archetype and traditionwhich highlights some more ‘bel canto’ aspects (the cuts on the cabalettes are avoided and vocalisms and coronets are accentuated).
The title role is entrusted to Frances Sassosoprano with a very pleasant timbre, never banal. She knows how to restore a moving intimacy in moments of greater pathos. Excellent test also for the Alfredo of Valerio Borgioniwho abandons the traditional clothes of the bon vivant in favor of a more shy Alfredo, sometimes a little awkward. Less centered is the Germont’s Vincenzo Nizzardooften swallowed and with few nuances. Some limits also in the acting and mimicry: the result is a two-dimensional Germont who lets himself go in histrionic gestures and grim looks that are more suited to a Scarpia or a Jago than to a father who, although severe, is capable of affection and compassion . Well, I distinguish the various supporting actors: Reut Ventorero, Sharon Zhai, James Leone, Alfonso Ciulla, Alessandro Abis, Nicholas Ciancio, Hermes Nicer And Philip Quarters. Very well the Chorus of the Lombardy Opera prepared by the master Malaspino and theAfternoon Orchestra Musicthere. Tomorrow it repeats at 15.30.
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