Rating: 
Summary: A Showcase for Terfel
Review: All fans of Bryn Terfel will want to have this production of one of his signature roles. He is fully vested, vocally and dramatically, in Verdi's Sir John. And his supporting cast is quite good, especially the beautiful Barbara Frittoli as Alice.The production is mainly traditional, with cookie-cutter sets in Crayola colors that work well for this opera. Some may feel that the depiction of Falstaff's slovenliness is over the top, but our good knight cleans up well when he comes a-courtin'. I have to confess that this is not one of my favorite operas, but if you love it, or if you love Terfel, you can't go wrong with this production.
Rating: 
Summary: Terfel is unique in Covent Garden hilarious 2001 production
Review: English people have a special affinity to this opera being based on a Shakespeare play (Merry Wives of Windsor). So it is small wonder it was picked for a special new production at the newly renovated Covent Garden. And it is certainly a very good production and probably the best one available in a visual format.
Specifically, the direction is highly innovative(dir. Graham Vick) and the sets by Paul Brown are very imaginative and brilliant with primary colors (there is something of a circus about it) which introduces the necessary lightheartedness and humour, so often missed in other productions. Just to mention a few examples: the first act scene 1. takes place on a huge red bed tilted towards the audience and there are several trapdoors opening in and out.(The bed is like a huge trampoline upon which people bounce up and down, while Falstaff is sitting or lieing on it, drinking wine -absolutely hilarious.) The second act scene 2. is also very colourful with a big yellow baldachine over the bed and the third act scene one with several hunting trophies in a row used as a hiding places and taking a life of their own at a most unexpected moment, is truly inspired humour.The elements of surprise here are remarkable.
Musically, this is Bryn Terfel's finest hour in the role of Falstaff. His voice and characterisation are beyond comparison. Barbara Frittoli's youthful soprano voice , terrific acting and good looks as Alice Ford, are worthy foil to Terfel. Roberto Frontali as Mr. Ford is a strong baritone; his duet and famous aria in the 2nd act comes off well. The other, supporting, roles are no less creditable.Manca di Nissa as Mrs Quickly should probably require a special mention.
Haitink is definitely up to the task in this contrapunctal score (again I am referring to the Meistersinger which is no less contrapunctal). Verdi must have learned something from Wagner, but his synthesis has an Italian quality and this points to his genius.
Haitink does well with the 'a capella' ensembles in the first act and in the final fugato finale. These are a real tests for a good conductor.
This performance should be very satisfying to most viewers. There are of course stick- in- the mud pedants, who cannot relate to anything but the traditional, but I am sure there will be many listeners who would welcome a change. Most enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Il Troppo Grosso & Vile
Review: Given the brilliant baritone Bryn Terfel stars in this FALSTAFF, I found that the only attractive aspect of this performance. The sets and costumes are overly stylistic and rather surreal, and all rather disgusting, with lollipop trees, rolling hills and the first scene of the second act, with food spilled all over Falstaff's table is really gross. Even Terfel cannot escape the muck. There's a scene where he's wearing a diaper in an incredibly disgusting bodysuit. I owned the video for a few months and ended up selling it. Unless you must see Terfel in the title role, buy it, but I'll wait until a later effort comes along in a better production. Honestly, this was one of the most awful productions I've ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: Il Troppo Grosso & Vile
Review: Given the brilliant baritone Bryn Terfel stars in this FALSTAFF, I found that the only attractive aspect of this performance. The sets and costumes are overly stylistic and rather surreal, and all rather disgusting, with lollipop trees, rolling hills and the first scene of the second act, with food spilled all over Falstaff's table is really gross. Even Terfel cannot escape the muck. There's a scene where he's wearing a diaper in an incredibly disgusting bodysuit. I owned the video for a few months and ended up selling it. Unless you must see Terfel in the title role, buy it, but I'll wait until a later effort comes along in a better production. Honestly, this was one of the most awful productions I've ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: R rating says it all
Review: Honestly I didn't think you needed to look at the parental guidance rating of an opera. I'm sure Verdi would have been "proud". Luckily I took it out of the library and didn't buy it. Since there are so few opera DVD's and so many other oppurtunities to see lewd behavior on the screen, I hope the opera DVD producers will produce more traditional approaches for old "stick in the muds" like me. Also other BBC productions have had suggestive or violent approaches in other operas. I probably won't view any more of their productions.
Rating:
Summary: R rating says it all
Review: Honestly I didn't think you needed to look at the parental guidance rating of an opera. I'm sure Verdi would have been "proud". Luckily I took it out of the library and didn't buy it. Since there are so few opera DVD's and so many other oppurtunities to see lewd behavior on the screen, I hope the opera DVD producers will produce more traditional approaches for old "stick in the muds" like me. Also other BBC productions have had suggestive or violent approaches in other operas. I probably won't view any more of their productions.
Rating:
Summary: When you're in the right mood...
Review: Is the other reviewer serious about the "R" rating in the USA? In Australia this film has been rated PG - which means children can watch it but it is recommended that parents guide them. That's the same rating as "Home Alone" and other such innocuous Hollywood comedies. Weird. Anyway, this production certainly is colorful. In the right mood I find it a riot. In the wrong mood I find it unsubtle and overdone, even gauche. But Terfel's Falstaff is tremendous in spite of absurdly unrealistic stomach padding. Frittoli's Alice is beautifully sung and acted, and Mistress Quickly's motif was still impressed on my mind the day after watching it, such is Bernadette Manca di Nissa's fruity tone. Fenton (Kenneth Tarver) and Nannetta (Desiree Rancatore) make an enchanting pair physically and vocally, flirting with the kind of extrovert style encouraged by the production. I've never heard anything badly done by Haitink - he is a reliably excellent conductor and this is no exception. The Covent Garden orchestra articulate the shifting motifs of Verdi's score splendidly. In the right mood, a very enjoyable night at the opera.
Rating:
Summary: When you're in the right mood...
Review: Is the other reviewer serious about the "R" rating in the USA? In Australia this film has been rated PG - which means children can watch it but it is recommended that parents guide them. That's the same rating as "Home Alone" and other such innocuous Hollywood comedies. Weird. Anyway, this production certainly is colorful. In the right mood I find it a riot. In the wrong mood I find it unsubtle and overdone, even gauche. But Terfel's Falstaff is tremendous in spite of absurdly unrealistic stomach padding. Frittoli's Alice is beautifully sung and acted, and Mistress Quickly's motif was still impressed on my mind the day after watching it, such is Bernadette Manca di Nissa's fruity tone. Fenton (Kenneth Tarver) and Nannetta (Desiree Rancatore) make an enchanting pair physically and vocally, flirting with the kind of extrovert style encouraged by the production. I've never heard anything badly done by Haitink - he is a reliably excellent conductor and this is no exception. The Covent Garden orchestra articulate the shifting motifs of Verdi's score splendidly. In the right mood, a very enjoyable night at the opera.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible Falstaff!
Review: Please, don't listen to the reviewer below who says the production is disgusting. He must be a person scared of everything original or slightly different, please don't listen to him. First, the cast. No need to say anything save that it's great, spearheaded by Bryn Terfel and Barbara Frittoli. Second, the music, just incredible, with the RPO conducted by Bernard Haitink, just amazing! Now, the sets: This part may be the most controversial, if anything just because of it being original (and very clever, I'd say). The sets are very colorful and cartoonlike, which only adds to the comic feeling of this greatest of comic operas. David McVicar is I think, the greatest set designer of our time. Trust me, you can't go wrong with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Well, a lot of the Credits should go to Bernard Haitink
Review: The sound and picture of this DVD is definitive in terms of modern technology. The overall approach is also very modern so far as costumes and settings are concerned: the colours of both are so simple and yet so exceptionally rich. It's as if one is reading a comic or a cartoon with human faces. Such treatment might well be justified for a comic opera of this nature and by doing so, they may well be able to attract young comers to the operas, or they may be bored of the realistic approach... As pointed out by most viewers, Terfel's acting and singing were wonderful and he was well supported by his partners, not just Barbara Frittoli but almost all other singers and above all, a wonderful orchestra. Viewers with a sharp ear for orchestral support might mistake this to be Vienna Philharmonic, for it sounds as good as Vienna Philharmonic! The orchestra is so full of life and colours giving the sort of sopport to singers that could even rival Gerald Moore on the piano. It's most rare eversince Furtwangler. Menuhin once conducted the Russian State Orchestra, making the orchestra sound so warm and full of colours that you wouldn't believe your ears. Bernard Haitink is such another magical conductor which is by and large extinct now!
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