Review: ALCINA, Royal Ballet & Opera

Returning to Covent Garden for the first time since it waltzed off with an Olivier in 2022, Richard Jones’ Alcina is ravishing to look at, a joy to hear and its clever design motifs still stand out from the crowd.

The prolific Jones never tires of finding new ways to give his audiences sleepless nights. This time around, his signature surreal, nightmare-like imagery is realised by having Alcina’s transformed lovers played by ten mixed-sex performers dancing around in elaborate animal heads paired with pastel jackets. It’s a highly effective (if ever-so-slightly disturbing) interpretation that brings up thoughts of Doctor Moreau and taxidermy conventions. Another visual brainwave is turning the villain’s magic urn into a mini-fridge-sized perfume bottle placed upon a plinth. As Alcina seduces her way through the menfolk, the perfume slowly drains from sight. 

The opera is framed with the idea of a woman and a priest from a strict religious sect - the kind that preaches against basic human desires while aspiring to a ragbag of virtues - going off to search for her missing husband. The austerity of the pious prayer opening is contrasted with a cheeky sex scene in the potting shed that manages to be both racy and hilarious as well as a last minute decision from the congregation to abandon their hymnals for a copy of “The Joy Of Sex”. It’s not hard to see why this production wowed the award judges in its original run. Whether, though, Handel is spinning in his grave or heartily applauding is anyone’s guess.

This eye-catching approach is a handy counterbalance to Handel’s extensive use of da capo arias in which an emotional scene is played out three times over: once to establish the feelings, then again as a contrast with a different key or tempo and finally the singer goes back and repeats the first version “da capo” or from the top. This writing technique may be deeply arousing for devotees of 18th century opera but, to a modern ear, even arias as beautiful as Ruggiero’s "Sta nell'ircana" could come across as somewhat repetitive.

The cast from 2022 returns largely intact. The only changes are in the rescue party: Beth Taylor takes over from Varduhi Abrahamyan for Bradamente while José Coca Loza has been replaced in the dual role of Melisso and Atlante by Edward Grint. Jones dresses the former not in the armour of the original story but in a blue men’s suit and Taylor is solid as the spouse caught up in a love square involving the sorceress Alcina (Lisette Oropesa), the witch Morgana (Mary Bevan adorned by gorgeous ginger locks) and her errant husband Ruggiero (Emily D’Angelo).  

Oropesa, dressed in a sleek, black evening gown, slinks around the stage like Cruella de Ville via Prada. Her coloratura technique is magnificent to behold and, attached to her magnetic presence, exquisitely captures Alcina’s manipulative nature, her cruel menace and her final heartbreak. Mezzo-soprano D’Angelo plays the confused Ruggiero with conviction and appeal, twisting this way and that in fetching black breeches as Alcina’s magic wanes.

Antony McDonald’s cunning set spreads across the width, depth and height of the Covent Garden stage. The action moves from sensuous boudoirs to rotating sheds and backstage dressing rooms with white portrait-covered walls dropping down to cover for set changes. His modern dress costumes give the production a grounded feel — another inspired balance to Handel’s more fantastical story elements.  

Musically glorious and stylishly sung with Jones coming up trumps visually and conceptually, this Alcina is a delicious slice of Baroque opera.

Alcina continues until 3 October.

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