Broad slapstick eclipses Haydn’s Life on the Moon

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

Andrew Slater (Buonafede) and Christopher Turner (Ecclitico)
© Richard Hubert Smith

Read the full review on Bachtrack.

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