Romeo et Juliette (Gounod)

Opera Ireland continues its Shakespearean programme with the ever-popular tragic tale of the star-crossed lovers. Gounod's opera was first performed in Paris in 1867 where its lavish score proved to be an immediate success. The opera captures the most famous scenes from the play including the Capulet's ball, the balcony farewell, the secret marriage and the anguish in the tomb.

Celebrated French soprano Nathalie Manfrino, sings the role of Juliette with American tenor, Michael Spyres as her doomed lover. A favourite among Irish audiences, baritone Marcel Vanaud returns to sing the role of Count Capulet. The cast also features a host of Irish singers including Imelda Drumm as Stephano and Victoria Massey as Gertrude.

"It's the classic boy meets girl, they both end up committing suicide kind of story!"
Opera Ireland are taking on Gounod's version of Romeo et Juliette, starting on the 1st March. It's the first time that the opera has been in the company's repertoire since 1945. Dress rehearsals are well underway, and the stage (which I got a sneak preview of) looks magnificent. So get your glad-rags on and hot foot it down to the Gaiety for a post-Valentines look at star-crossed love in the opera. Director Annilise Miskimmon took some time out of the hectic schedule to have a chat with Totally Dublin and share some operatic knowledge with us.

Ok, first things first, this opera hasn't been in the Opera Ireland repertoire since 1945 so can you tell me a bit about Romeo et Juliette? How does it differ from the traditional play?

AM: Romeo et Juliette was written by Charles Gounod, who's a very famous composer, in 1888. Throughout time obviously there have been constant reinventions of the Romeo and Juliet story. The big difference between the Shakespeare play and the opera is that at the end of the play, Juliet takes a potion to appear dead. She is put in a tomb and the message doesn't reach Romeo that she is only pretending to be dead. So he comes to her, he thinks she's dead, he then kills himself. Only when he's dead, in the Shakespeare play, does she wake up. So, they never have that moment of togetherness at the end. The big difference in the opera is that Gounod can't resist having them both alive, together, for a certain period of time to sing a duet at the very end of the opera. He's a little bit more romantic in the sense that they have this moment together before they die. The piece is very faithful to the Shakespeare play. It's based mostly around Juliet's family, the Capulets. But it's the classic boy meets girl, they both end up committing suicide kind of story! I always laugh about it because people say, ‘Oh Romeo and Juliet, it's so romantic' and I say ‘no, actually it's not really, it's about two teenagers who kill themselves.'

What is your own background in Opera? Where did the passion for opera come from?

AM: When I was growing up I loved musicals, the old Rogers and Hammerstein ones like Carousel and Sound of Music. There used to be a company called Opera Northern Ireland and my dad was, and still is, a very good amateur singer. He used to sing with them so from a young age I used to go to see him. So I always just felt that opera was like another form of musical. I never saw it as being anything other than a different way to tell a story so I just always grew up loving it.

You've had a hand in a lot of different youth theatre initiatives set up in Ireland. How important do you think these opportunities are for the growth of opera in the country? Opera would probably still be considered quite elitist among many in Ireland, in comparison to musicals, etc.

AM: I always think that if you like musicals you'll like Opera because it is jut another form of musical. In my company, Opera Theatre Company, we do a lot with lots of different people, some of whom might think opera had nothing to do with them or they mightn't be interested in it. The project with An Cosan was really fantastic. They're an educational charity in Tallaght and they educate a huge number of local people. I've done two things with them. I did Introduction to Opera where lots of people who'd never really had anything to do with opera came along, met some singers, learned about opera and then we did a special gala night for them in Tallaght. So that was brilliant. Also, opera is very useful because it's perceived as something elitist, even when it's not. A hundred years ago the Irish used to love opera. We were all in the opera houses, all the time. It was the people's art form. You got a really good show, really good music and everybody knew the latest stuff. Now it's gone the other way. For various, complicated reasons which I don't really understand, it's been hijacked for a long time by people who had money. So now, organisations like Opera Theatre Company exist to make opera accessible to everybody on the island. We tour everywhere. We keep our ticket prices very low. Because opera is seen as being elitist, it's really good to get people to realise that it isn't and they can really enjoy it.

There was a recent proposal to merge the Opera Companies of Ireland. What's happening with that? What's your opinion on that merging?

AM: The original plan was to merge all three (Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company Ireland, Wexford Festival Opera) but that's not happening now. My company and opera Ireland are now talking to the Minister Martin Cullen but we're just in discussions so it's basically a fact finding operation at the moment and then something might happen at a later date but at the moment we don't know. But any decisions made, I hope that they're made on the quality of the work and the fact that art needs to be seen in the whole island. Because we have lots of fantastic venues that are crying out for us to bring shows to them.

Finally then, you've worked on Carmen by Bizet which would be considered one of a few Holy Grails in terms of Opera. Have you any other operas that you'd consider a dream project?

Yeah, Carmen is a huge show. There is this piece by Verdi, Aida which is meant to have elephants in it. So you'd need a really big stage, and very well behaved elephants. So there are these mad projects, for Aida you need a pyramid and lots of other things - a hell of a project basically!

Romeo et Juliette runs for 5 performances, from the 27th February to the 7th March. For more information please visit www.gaietytheatre.ie.

Words Anna Hayes

Website: http://www.gaietytheatre.ie