It’s rare to hear Puccini’s Il Trittico, his triple bill of one-act operas, performed as the single work the composer intended. His publisher’s warnings of the commercial risks the project presented were proved right. On its New York premiere in 1918 Gianni Schicchi was an instant hit, but audiences found the musical language of Il Tabarro indigestibly modern, while Suor Angelica was regarded as overly sentimental and too Catholic for Protestant-dominated New York.
Set in different locations and in sharply contrasting tonal registers, the operas that make up the triptych each centre on the theme of death. This new Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera co-production, directed by Sir David McVicar, presents the works as three distinct tableaux. While Il Tabarro stays true to the libretto’s pre-first world war Parisian setting, Suor Angelica takes place within the timelessness of a traditional convent, and Gianni Schicchi is located in 1960s Florence – the Duomo is visible through the window behind Buoso Donati’s deathbed, and Hannah Clark’s colourful costumes add to the comedy.
Il Tabarro is a slow burn, but Viktor Antipenko (Luigi) and Sunyoung Seo (Georgetta) – both making their Scottish Opera debuts – shine as the lovers whose dreams are brutally ended when Luigi is murdered by Georgetta’s jealous husband Michele. Seo also impressed in the austere Suor Angelica, particularly in the heartbreaking aria Senza Mamma: her impeccably controlled voice commanding attention from her loudest outpourings to her quietest utterings.
Charles Edwards’s set and Ben Pickersgill’s atmospheric lighting design create a cinematic intensity that powers Il Tabarro, while Stuart Stratford and the orchestra paint the kaleidescopic colours of Puccini’s three scores vividly. The large number of small roles in Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica offer an opportunity to showcase the talents of the company’s Emerging Artists and chorus members, with Lea Shaw and Douglas Nairne particular standouts.
Seeing Gianni Schicchi in this context, as the final opera of the trio, significantly changes its resonances. After the violence of Il Tabarro and the heart-rending Suor Angelica, it would be easy for it to become trivial. But, drawing on the subtle and dark humour in Giovacchino Forzano’s libretto, McVicar’s staging sets Schicchi up as a true hero – not simply an opportunistic confidence trickster. In the title role, and as the dejected Michele in Il Tabarro, Roland Wood was simply magnificent – not only vocally, but also in the authenticity and sheer versatility of his stage presence. Switching from one to the other requires an enormous leap between two very different personalities, and Wood was utterly compelling as both.
• At Theatre Royal, Glasgow on 15 and 18 March, and Festival theatre, Edinburgh, on 22 and 25 March.
