Haydn: Life on the Moon **
English Touring Opera, Hackney Empire, 17th October 2014
Few composers deal in genial wit better than Joseph Haydn, so I was baffled that his opera buffa Il mondo della luna left me so grumpy in this English Touring Opera production. The stuff and nonsense plot about a fake astrologer, with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni, didn’t inspire the composer to produce a single memorable aria. Despite some spirited performances in the pit and on-stage, director Cal McCrystal’s relentlessly slapstick approach, broadly applied, failed to come to Haydn’s aid.
Andrew Slater (Buonafede) and Christopher Turner (Ecclitico)
© Richard Hubert Smith
Read the full review on Bachtrack.