The Tales of Hoffmann

The arrival of this shared production of Opera Australia, Covent Garden and two of Europe’s biggest opera houses was a cause for celebration and relief.

Italian creatives commenced rehearsals via zoom from hotel quarantine in 2021, only to be sent packing back home when Sydney went into lockdown. You could feel the glee in the sinews of every member of the ample chorus, who milked so many comic moments with skill and relish.

The results of the team’s much postponed labour was a spectacle that reached giddy heights. A melding of high wire singing, beautiful dancing, gorgeous costumes, haunting lighting and dazzling set-pieces.

The Tales of Hoffmann was Jacques Offenbach’s shot at a big serious opera and tragically he died months before it opened, still clutching the unfinished manuscript.

It opened with the spirits of wine dancers introducing the first scene in a Tavern, where Hoffman is coaxed into telling stories about his past loves.

In many productions the roles of his lovers Olympia, Antonia, Giuletta and opera singer Stella are performed by different divas. Joan Sutherland famously stamped her authority by taking on all the parts. In the same tradition Jessica Pratt also performed all four roles.

The highlight was the tale of Olympia, whom Hoffmann fell in love with at school. She is a machine that needs to be wound up to keep going. The Doll aria reaches an impossible high note that a member of the company described to me as F above top C. The ease which Pratt floated to those notes was breathtaking.  It was like someone was just clinking a triangle such was the clarity.

The staging of that scene was ingenious. Opera Australia has gone hard on digital scenery in recent times and sometimes it is a distraction. But in this case, it was used in a way that integrated into the narrative. Olympia wrote a mathematical equation on a digital blackboard that morphed into numbers and letters that floated around the stage.

A stunt double mannequin, that was almost a spitting image of Jessica Pratt, was later tossed around with hilarious effect.

A performance like that would be enough for anyone, but the English-born Australian soprano threw herself around the stage and sang with similar aplomb in the other acts.

There were other fine voices. Tenor Peruvian Iván Ayón Rivas as Hoffmann has a striking trumpet tone. Croatian bass baritone Marko Mimica was commanding as the four villains.

The opera included elegant moments of ballet from adults and a troupe of young girls. 

The Tales of Hoffmann is on the long side and following all the twists and turns of the disparate lover stories, over three hours and forty minutes requires concentration.

But the lavish production, and the sumptuous score under the baton of Guillaume Tourniaire, helped the audience float away well satisfied.

David Spicer

Photographer: Keith Saunders

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