No favors for La Favorite, TCE, 7-01-2013.

Recipe to transform a romantic, moving  opera into a funny gig:
Take some atrocious shapes in decreasing size to be taken for the shore of a beautiful island, the seashores of Leon, and ask the singers to step on them and even run when stepping on one of them (Inès had to do so while singing and leaving the stage almost running), as it is rather tricky, singers  seemed uneasy doing so....
What is supposed to be the garden of Alcazar in Seville is merely resumed to a huge sycomore tree, painted on a screen at the backstage, it is a display of boughs rather invading and suffocating instead of showing a nice cool shelter from the sun.
 Then at the front,  just put a structure vaguely looking like a dual seat for lovers but it is also a kind of bridge where the couple Leonor and Alphonse will have to step on,  towering all the others, the court, and from up there, deliver their duet and arias.  It looks unsafe, made them hesitate again before either stepping on following each other on it or stepping down...very awkward situation which took my mind away from the singing and the drama for some precious minutes and did not convey any sense in the action.
Then  add the ugliness of the things on stage like the chairs in the empty monastery opening scene, as ugly and uncomfortable as possible, as cheap as can be...like cheap classroom furniture ....and the setting is almost complete.
As it looks pretty empty just ask the choir, (dressed in the same blue plain long dresses for the women),  to shake  hands and move according to the music possibly in a modern style, rather Offenbach like, to be showing originality. In fact it was something more elaborated than it looked,  it was a clin d'oeil to the Zigfrid Follies during the  ballet which was not the real ballet (I read all about it in the programe)
 At that point it is necessary to add action with long scarves  stretched between the lovers Fernand and Leonor, a white one and a black one then a huge blue one. The artists will have to show their love and pull the white ends together when getting nearer and you then understand it is the expression of love... The black one is death of course and the huge blue one which will be pulled out like a sail by Fernand, ... expression of  hope after meeting the woman he does not know the name yet? I am still trying to find the appropriate answer...
All these elements I tried to describe make an almost empty stage which could be referred  to as a minimalist setting. It might have not deserved attention if the singers had captivated the audience by their dramatic playing and singing. That was not the case at all on the first night I was there. They all seemed rather short of rehearsals because they nearly all suffered a bad spell of flu, an announcement explained that the lead role Alice Coote  had just recovered and missed rehearsals,  and this could be felt in the acting.
Nonetheless some singers were absolutely not feeling the intensity of the drama even if the singing was fairly nice: Marc Laho-Fernand did not feel the pulse of his passion for Leonor and looked even funny at times, but sang like an angel with no passion or any type of feelings expressed, only nice singing which is not bad after all but this was a staged performance not a concert version of the opera!
 Alice Coote had a slow first act and then gradually grew into La Favorite more and more until the last act and the last scene of her heart -breaking pardon to Fernand and her death, even with her head  and her long hair  hanging over the orchestra pit in a very uncomfortable position, she was moving and singing beautifully . This almost empty  stage and very static production did not compensate for the libretto at the last scene. We all know passion is inconsistent, here it is laughable to follow the words and it is better to just listen to the music.
Alphonse-Tezier had a brilliant entrance, he woke up the whole stage with a kingly look and voice! I found him also a bit ridiculous when he had to strip off his long royal coat (with some difficulties ... perhaps too tight ?) and then keep it and pat it as if it was Leonor's body... Normally this gesture is what Coline does when he departs from his beloved tatty old coat...(La Boheme!)
 Still,  his singing was like " un coup de clairon."..efficient, somehow a bit tensed.
Carlo Colombara - Balthazar  was fine in this kind of 'father' image for Fernand and  judge, he has the right voice  for it even if his acting was also very traditional. I am very fond of his voice and did not mind his rather moralizing role and not very clear pronunciation. (Alice Coote was perfect in French, to my ears).
I wish I could reset the clock back to another production without this setting, with the same cast and conductor and just listen ...and follow the musical and singing flow... I had some of this dream come true when I listened to the broadcast on France musique.(replay still possible with a very nice display even better than the real opera at the TCE)

Was it worth travelling to Paris, getting annoyed by this silly performance and the neighbours particularly noisy and talkative that night at the TCE? spending some 80€ on a ticket? It should have been a promising revival of this opera and it was not what I expected. Perhaps, was I expecting too much?
Meanwhile I have the pleasure to listen peacefully to a splendid Favorite sung by Vesselina Kasarova.  Alice Coote was the only one who made me believe in her role at the last act end, she was rather unlucky to be in such a production to my humble taste!

La Favorite

Gaetano Donizetti
Opéra en quatre actes (1840, version française)
Livret d’Alphonse Royer et Gustave Vaëz, d’après Les Amours malheureuses ou le Comte de Comminges de Baculard d’Arnaud
Paolo Arrivabeni   direction



Alice Coote  Leonor di Gusmán
 
Marc Laho  Fernand

Ludovic Tézier  Alphonse XI

Carlo Colombara  Balthazar

Loïc Felix  Don Gaspar

Judith Gauthier  Inès
Orchestre National de France
Chœur de Radio France /
 Chœur du Théâtre des Champs-Elysées  -direction Lucie Deroïan
TCE, Jan 7th 2013.