Opera review: The Cunning Little Vixen | La Cenerentola; Glyndebourne Festival Opera

GLYNDEBOURNE likes to start its season with a bang, but some productions leave such an imprint in the memory that they are almost impossible to follow: director Melly Still was always going to have trouble erasing the classic versions of Janacek’s tragicomedy The Cunning Little Vixen at Covent Garden and the Coliseum.

The Cunning Little Vixen at Covent Garden and the Coliseum. Alas, she hasn’t succeeded: her cast of quirky humans and mischievous animals are too frenetically choreographed for the story to emerge clearly, and Tom Pye’s plywood sets lack charm and beauty. But there is much to enjoy in the Forester, Schoolmaster and Priest, while Lucy Crowe’s charismatic Vixen heads an irrepressible animal world in this great tribute to self-renewal; Vladimir Jurowski conducts with warmth.

But the second show – a revival of Peter Hall’s brilliant take on Rossini’s La Cenerentola – is a dazzling success. If this opera has a leitmotif, it’s spiralling, hysterical madness, and its message is a celebration of the triumph of truth over artifice. Wonderful surprises are sprung at every turn, thanks to director Lynne Hockney’s fusion of acting, choreography and lighting effects.

Vocally the show is fabulous. Umberto Chiummo is the social-climbing father, with Elena Xanthoudakis and Victoria Yarovaya his scheming daughters; and as the secret lovers, Elizabeth Deshong and Taylor Stayton are incomparable, her sumptuous sound balanced by his expressive tenor. You won’t find a more perfect operatic evening anywhere else this summer.

The Cunning Little Vixen - Rating: ***

La Cenerentola - Rating: *****