Opera review: Flight
Jonathan Dove’s opera about passengers stuck in an airport terminal is something of a modern-day classic. Get on board, buckle up, and enjoy a terrific production of this marvellous opera.
For those who loved the Glyndebourne production of Jonathan Dove’s Flight a long time ago at the 2006 Adelaide Festival, this was good news. Bravely, State Opera South Australia chose to bring it back all these years later – an exceptionally rare prospect for any modern opera.
People were not wrong about taking a liking to its brilliantly colourful, exuberant music all those years ago. British composer Dove really hit the mark with what was essentially his debut opera (he’s since gone on to write more than 30 musical theatre works).
Its storyline — about a bunch of passengers marooned at an airport, one of whom is a refugee with no papers to travel — is nothing much to write home about, other than that is based on a true story concerning the Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who was held captive in Charles de Gaulle airport for 18 years.
In the opera, the airport becomes a place of squandered and arrested time, a bit like Waiting for Godot. Yet what is so captivating about April De Angelis’s libretto, besides the refugee’s loneliness, are the intrigues and comical interactions of the stranded passengers as they wait out an electrical storm.
The Glyndebourne production we had in 2006, directed by Geoffrey Dolton, was charming and fable-like. By comparison, this production, emanating from Scottish Opera and directed by Stephen Barlow, is more compact and theatrically energised. Barlow, Australian born and living in the UK, happens to be highly experienced with the music of Jonathan Dove, to date having directed no less than 11 of his works. And it shows. This production absolutely sparkles with wit and life, surpassing the 2006 version.
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Unafraid to do wildly extravagant things where it helps, Barlow throws a bold hand at Flight. Its three acts escalate powerfully with the colour, intensity and gravitas that he injects. In terms of staging, these are dimensions that were not as fully brought out in 2006, so where interest tended to fall on purely musical values in that production, this one zings with energy.
For humour alone, it is at times screamingly entertaining. When the lift doors open to reveal the airline steward and stewardess having a jolly time inside, one’s eyes fairly pop out — don’t bring your kids.
And what a cast we have. The 10 singers are really well chosen for their respective roles. Flight completely depends on in-character singing, very much as an operetta or musical does, and the production provides it in spades. The cast’s singing right across the work’s two-plus hours is excellent.
Unusually, Flight has a countertenor as the lead character, and in so doing directly reminds one of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the strangeness and otherworldliness that it creates in the character of the Refugee. He is the outsider, omniscient in his wisdom but cast aside and spurned by all.
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Delicate of voice, the British countertenor James Laing takes on the role superbly, lending him pathos and vulnerability. A shade less powerful vocally he nevertheless captivates every atom of one’s attention. Around him, the bored airport passengers carry on like caricatures rather than real human beings, yet we can identify with each of them.
Henry Choo takes on the frisky, wayward Bill — a middle-aged married man in search of sexual adventure. His singing is exemplary. His unwitting wife, Tina, is marvellously sung and acted by First Nations soprano, Nina Korbe.
Meanwhile, Samuel Dale Johnson and Ashlyn Tymms are just great in the purely comic roles of the Steward and Stewardess. And the dour couple of Minskman and Minskwoman, en route to Russia, are wonderfully taken by Jeremy Tatchell and Fiona McArdle. When the latter goes into childbirth in the last act, you are in for one of the more extraordinary scenes in all opera — it is embarrassingly funny, gruelling and ecstatic.
Yet more interesting emotional layers are provided by Cherie Boogaart as the bewildered Older Woman, and by Teddy Tahu Rhodes as the intimidating Immigration Officer who, at everyone’s pleading, finally turns a blind eye to the Refugee’s plight and decides not to apprehend him.
The most striking vocal contribution of the night is that of Anna Voshege as the Controller. Looking down from the airport tower with serene indifference to all the shenanigans below, but herself falling into delirium when the stress gets too much, her coloratura singing is stunning. Her voice just keeps going higher into the stratosphere, and it takes one’s breath away.
British conductor Charlotte Corderoy directs the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to great effect in this production. Last time in the Festival Theatre, the ASO had Brad Cohen; the main difference this time, in the smaller space of Her Majesty’s Theatre, is that of scale. With only 32 players in the pit, the sound is thinner. All the score’s atmospheric layering, scintillating colour and vivacity and are satisfyingly present — but in a more transparent way.
Earning particular praise is Joshua van Konkelenberg on celeste; Dove makes distinctive use of that instrument, and it sounds special. The music throughout is gloriously inspired. Full of inspiration, it is constantly on the move, warmly harmonically and freshly melodic. Dove catches the crest of a wave and never falls off for a moment. One is continually impressed by the brilliance of his orchestration.
Flight is a pricelessly beautiful opera, and this production really cannot be faulted — it surpasses all expectations.
Thanks to State Opera’s new artistic director Dane Lam, Adelaide is lucky to get this work a second time. The only pity is that the production runs for only three consecutive nights. Be sure to catch it while it’s still on.
Flight opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Thursday May 8, and continues until May 10