- Radio Times
- Review by:
- David Gillard
The Royal Opera’s new production of Falstaff — Verdi’s last masterpiece and his wonderful final tribute to his beloved Shakespeare — is set in the 1950s, with the corpulent roisterer as a foxy old Master of the Hounds commanding a gang of spivs.
In the title role, Italian bass-baritone Ambrogio Maestri is a mightily gourmandising and delightfully booming fat knight, Windor’s merry wives are ladies who lunch in tweeds and twinsets — and, oh, yes, there’s even a horse! Well, as Falstaff sings in the opera’s glorious final fugue: “Jesting is man’s vocation. Wise is he who is jolly.”
All the world’s a stage.
About this programme
Verdi's comic masterpiece Falstaff, in Robert Carsen's new production for Covent Garden, which updates the action to 1950s Windsor and features an ensemble cast led by one of the great Falstaffs of modern times, Ambrogio Maestri. Presented by Ivan Hewett in conversation with Alexandra Wilson. Verdi: Falstaff. With Ambrogio Maestri (baritone: Falstaff), Ana María Martínez (soprano: Mrs Alice Ford), Amanda Forsythe (soprano: Nannetta), Kai Ruutel (mezzo: Mrs Meg Page), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (contralto: Mistress Quickly), Joel Prieto (tenor: Fenton), Dalibor Jenis (baritone: Ford), Carlo Bosi (tenor: Dr Caius), Alasdair Elliott (tenor: Bardolph) and Lukas Jakobski (bass: Pistol), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conductor Daniele Gatti.
Cast and crew
Crew
- Producer
- David Papp
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