Un ballo in maschera

I like Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera a lot, the story is implausible, but the characters do engage and the music is sublime, I can listen to Eri Tu over and over and never get tired of it. I have seen various productions and at the moment my favourites are the 1975 and 1980 productions. This 2005 one is my least favourite but I did like it. The costume and set design are exquisite, as are the photography and sound. The Chorus are terrific, as are the orchestra and the conducting I have little to fault either. The singing from all the principles also impress, especially Amelia and Oscar. The production however occasionally plods particularly towards the end of Act 2, and the acting is not as convincing as the singing, excepting Renato and Amelia. Ulrica was the biggest disappointment for me, good voice but uncompelling. All in all, good albeit not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Riccardo Chailly gets a rousing performance from the Leipzig Gewandhaus in this production of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera. The opera chorus is also in fine form. The soloists, however, are more patchy. As Riccardo, Massimiliano Pisapia, is a promising young tenor although his acting leaves something to be desired and, in his high collared coat, he looks disturbingly like Grandpa in the Munsters. Chiara Taigi is ravishing as his lover Amalia but her high notes can be disconcertingly wayward. Franco Vassallo gives a good dramatic performance as the cuckolded husband Renato but he has a somewhat underpowered baritone voice. Annamaria Chiuri is nowhere near bloodcurdling enough as the fortune teller Ulrica. Eun Yee You sings the trouser role of Oscar adequately but can do nothing with the character.

The real star of this production is Arnaldo Pomodoro the costume designer. I don't mean that in a nice way because, when you notice the costumes more than the singing something is seriously out of balance. Chiara Taiga wears a stunning electric blue number in the second act, not really the sort of dress you would wear if you wanted to go incognito in a haunted graveyard. Ulrica is covered in spikes and foam as if she is a character in a TV programme for the under fives. The masked ball itself looks sensational with the characters wearing huge helmets and ruffs. But none of this helps in making Verdi's unlikely story any more plausible.Unlike the version of this opera filmed at La Scala in 2001 we get no sense of time or place and no sense of the political drama behind the love interest. Like La Scala, this production uses the original version of the opera, set in Boston but it actually inhabits some weird theatrical never-never land.