OPERA

“Don Giovanni”

Oz Opera

Canberra Theatre, until July 14.

Reviewed by Ian McLean

I’M guessing the devilish Mr Mozart would be pretty happy if he was able to visit the Canberra Theatre to see his scandalous tale of Don Giovanni sung in English and set in a ’50s Italy, complete with leather jackets, sunglasses and a hot red dress.

Renowned director and playwright Michael Gow (“The Kid”, “Away”, “Toy Symphony”) has updated the 1787 original resulting in an Oz Opera production which is a cheeky delight in all respects.

The tale is basically a yarn about a womanising cad and his relentless pursuit of women to bed, rather than to wed! Amongst an even cast of excellent singers, Samuel Dundas was appropriately sleazy as the womanising Giovanni while Adrian Tamburini got delightfully down and dirty as his swarthy and seedy sidekick, Leporello.

The nerdy Don Ottavio was suitably underplayed by Samuel Sakker while, among the ladies, Jane Ede (in that red dress as Donna Elvira) commanded the stage with powerful projection and stage presence.

A small orchestra of just nine (an outstandingly written reduction by Andrew Greene) was tight, precise, crisp and clean with a highlight being the beautiful harpsichord playing of conductor Brett Weymark. His accompaniment of Don Giovanni’s serenade (the only contribution in Italian) was sublime.

Set, lighting and costumes (by Robert Kemp) were all excellent. Canberra was first stop on this southern Australian leg of a comprehensive tour which will see Oz Opera visit 24 regional centres between now and mid September. This classy production is set to bring a great deal of joy and pleasure to a great many people.