Offenbach - Les Brigands / Gibault, Trempont, Chevalier, Lyon Opera

Rating:
Summary: Although not wellknown, the music is so enchanting
Review: Although this operetta is not so wellknown as The Merry Widow or the opera by the composer itself, Le Contes D'Hoffmann, it is not less magnificent and enchanting and we are amazed of the lively and sparkling music that is so beautiful and melodious from beginning to the end. It contains the exotic and specific French accent in the music,and give this operetta an extra-ordinary nuance. It is also sung and performed with such care and excellence, although the singers are not so wellknown outside Europe.
The disappointment only lies in the contemporary costumes which leave us no imagination of the crude and rough gang of bandits, as in here they just look like a bunch of office executives and employees on a union strike rather than a gang of robbers. They were dressed in ties and jacket or pullovers,while the daughter Fiorella and the other ladies were dressed in the contemporary Parisienne's way. Furthermore, the background set consisting of a glass building, fails to describe the sinister hills and woods in which robbers usually live in the old days. When the Duke of Mantua was lost and came crashing down the hill into the valley, he actually came crashing down the ceiling like an ordinary workman, while he misplaced Fiorella as a shepherdess dressed in an elegant formal suitdress. It may be the newest trend to modernized the performance this way, however for this kind of story it would be more fascinating if presented in the original form.
Nevertheless, forget inappropriate costumes or background set, the singing and the music is so delightful and excellent that we enjoy it so much.