Il Ritorno d’Ulisse review – A sensual slice of opulence and luxury | Opera

toIt seems lightning could strike the Chiltern Hills twice. In 2022, director John Caird and conductor Lawrence Cummings collaborated on a staging of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, a seminal work from 1607. Four years later came Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, another fine slice of Baroque musical theatre. Like Ulysses, it took Monteverdi decades to find his way back to the genre he had helped define during his middle period in Mantua. Inspired by the new world of commercial opera in Venice in the late 1630s, he designed a successful show with a dramatic vision and plenty of special effects to attract audiences.

Robert Jones salvaged design elements for his Orfeo set, where musicians sit on green terraces surrounded by crumbling frescoes. The lavish costumes, some of which were apparently repurposed as a cost-saving measure (although you’d never know), envelop Greek gods in shimmering Elizabethan robes and gowns. Dressed in white and cream, the humans feel as if they have wandered in from a party at an Edwardian country house. Paul Pyant’s elegant lighting is surrounded by a golden halo. Magical moments, such as Neptune rising from the sea, or Telemaco arriving on Minerva’s chariot, are pulled off with understated finesse.

From the moment the English party enters the stage, having warmed the audience with some pre-shows wandering around the Wormsley Estate playing Monteverdi’s Toccata, there is a sense of festive inclusiveness. The playing is refined, with Cummings on chamber organ and colorful contributions from the lyron, harpsichord, a pair of theorbos and a trio of sacbutes. The slow first half could benefit greatly from a musical background kick, but overall the pace is assured.

Leading the cast is the powerful Ed Lyon in the title role, his resilient tenor as effective when he wakes up as a shipwrecked sailor on the shore of Ithaca as when he triumphs over the oily crooks sniffing around his wife and the throne room. Cecilia Hale is a very sympathetic Penelope, focusing on her political and emotional dilemma with a touch of refreshing humor here and there.

Elsewhere, there are some neat character portraits. James Gilchrist embodies the simple-hearted loyalty and pastoral philosophies of elderly shepherd Iomiti, even when his intelligent voice turns into complex somersaults. Fiona Kim is down-to-earth and matter-of-fact as Ericlea, Penelope’s nurse, while Claire Leese plays Minerva as Button. As for the suitors, they are an exceptionally well-dressed group led by the feisty Anfinomo, played by James Cresswell, and the swaggering Anfinomo, played by Benjamin Howlett. Stuart Jackson, who, as gourmand Iro, can revel in the best of them, almost draws you in with his bleak, satirical song about hunger.

All in all, it whets the appetite for 2028 and the promised coronation of L’incoronazione di Poppea.