Meyerbeer: Robert le diable

Finally a great Meyerbeer production
I purchased this from Amazon UK where it has been on sale for a few weeks already. Terrific singing and acting from all the main actors, especially John Reylea whom I never heard of. He plays Bertram, the king of the fallen angels and really looks the part. He's a sort of Mephistofoles with a family connection to the title character nicely played by Bryan Hymel. I especially enjoyed the famous ballet of the fallen nuns even though most reviews in the UK didn't seem to. It is a bit more like the dance of the living dead than the fallen nuns. Still, it was well done and well integrated into the story. The staging was gorgeous: colorful, varied and lively. Meyerbeer was reknown for over the top productions and the Royal Opera certainly did their best to live up to that reputation pulling out all the stops down to a man in a bear outfit for no obvious reason that I saw. The plot is typical Meyerbeer silliness but we Meyerbeer fans know that going in. It's not really more loosely...

Marvellous Singing -- Questionable Staging
Robert le Diable, gentle reader, is a work I have wanted to experience for years. Like the previous reviewer, I got it from Amazon.com.uk (many discs are realeased earlier in Europe that in the US, with some never making it here). I am very glad to add this performance to the opera shelves, because there is some really fine singing, but like most DVD opera, it has its share of problems for me.

I normally enjoy Laurent Pelly's stagings, even when they are a bit "over the top". What he has done with Robert is to treat it as satire. The opera, as originally staged was as serious as fantasy/melodrama can be, but it was not played for laughs in the 19th century. Sets have a sort of Disneyesque aspect to them. It's not as off-putting as Mary Zimmerman's staging efforts to me, and it "worked" as far as I am concerned ... sort of. The critics were mixed in their reaction to the performance at the ROH last December.

Another negative of sorts is that there are substantial...

Opera heaven or opera hell?
The folly and the controversy surrounding the Royal Opera House's production of Meyerbeer's 2012 Robert Le Diable have been extensively reported elsewhere, from the cast changes and departures through to its critical mauling in the press. Those weaknesses are still apparent here, but they can be offset to a large degree in this case just by the rare opportunity to see one of the greatest works of 19th century opera performed on the stage. The challenge that faced director Laurent Pelly to stage this unfashionable monster of the Grand Opera repertoire however was never an enviable one. He may not entirely have succeeded, but in a way Pelly does capture the spirit of Meyerbeer to some extent. Perhaps it's more of a case that audiences still aren't ready for Meyerbeer.

Which is understandable, but a pity nonetheless. If nothing else Robert le Diable is an opera experience like no other. Musically and in terms of plotting it's not the most sophisticated, but Meyerbeer packs the...

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