Verdi’s spirited Un Giorno di Regno – usually translated as King for a Day – is one of his least performed works. So badly received was the La Scala premiere in 1840 they cancelled the rest of the run. The composer later went to considerable lengths to excuse it as the misbegotten product of a period of personal tragedy. It would be more than 50 years before he wrote Falstaff, his only other comedy.
So why revive it now? Well, as Christopher Alden’s frenetic, over-egged soufflé of a staging for Garsington Opera demonstrates, there’s a decent evening’s entertainment in there just itching to be liberated. And as Chris Hopkins’ buoyant reading of the score proves, Verdi came up with plenty of first rate, second rate music (to misquote Richard Strauss), even if you don’t come out whistling many of the tunes.
Written at speed, and to a libretto the composer described as the best of a bad lot, there are other reasons why it may have fizzled. There’s an old-fashioned Rossinian tang about a lot of the music, from the sparky overture, crescendos and all, to an Act II patter duet straight out of Il turco in Italia. Nowadays that matters little, especially given the effervescent playing of the Philharmonia Orchestra and a plucky cast who embrace directorial ideas, even when the laughs come at the expense of dramatic logic.
Alden conjures a world where Prigozhin-like arms dealers and celebrity lawyers bask in the cachet offered by association with a crowned head. Here it’s the King of Poland, or rather Belfiore, the minor aristocrat he’s persuaded to impersonate him for 24 hours. Charles Edwards’ nouveau riche sets and Sue Willmington’s resplendently tacky costumes – green and pink leopard print can be a thing, apparently – capture this vulgar milieu to a tee, though the over-used cable news feed is sometimes distracting.
But while we rightly guffaw as two grown men batter each other with spaghetti bolognese scooped from a wedding buffet, some of the other jokes – and they are legion – are simply gratuitous. Fortunately, fine performances mostly save the day. Joshua Hopkins’ suave, smoothly sung Belfiore has just the right blend of nervous swagger, while Christine Rice as his love interest, the Marchesa del Poggio, sings with a supple elegance and acts with an understated irony that earns her plenty of chuckles.
Henry Waddington is a hoot as the bombastic baron, head of Kelbar Defence Ltd, slugging it out with Grant Doyle’s venal La Rocca, all Giuliani smarm and silk boxers. As the hapless Edoardo, Oliver Sewell’s tight top notes occasionally let him down. Madison Leonard’s steely coloratura, however, hits the spot as Giulietta, a pampered daddy’s girl flaunting her “Not my King” poster and ordering DIY bomb kits online.
• Un Giorno di Regno is at Garsington Opera until 22 July.
