Gradually, disembodied arms appeared through silver strands of tinsel waving random geometric blocks, binoculars, tubs of popcorn: was this to be one of those clever, Avant Garde opera productions that are totally impenetrable to the average punter?
Not a bit of it.
Instead, Jackson’s Lane was treated to a full blooded, laugh-a-minute, joyous production of Rossini’s classic La Cenerentola.
HGO Director Finn Lacey is blessed with a super-creative production team and mega-talented cast. Set and costume designer Finlay Jenner has been encouraged to let his imagination rip.
Rossini’s opera tells a version of the Cinderella fairytale. (Image: Laurent Compagnon) Don Magnifico as Hugh Hefner? Brilliant! His over-made-up daughters (superbly played and voiced by Solveig Neseth and Katey Rylands) were decked out in toe-curling Trump gaudiness.
They were loathsome as they systematically belittled and abused their stepsister Angelina (played with forbearance by the hugely talented mezzo-soprano Klara Solen).
On cue, messengers arrive to announce the ball where The Prince can have his pick of the local talent.
Little does anyone realise that they are in fact The Prince and his nice-but-dim valet Dandini disguised as each other. The latter (the comically gifted James Quilligan) was kitted out in an orange he-man muscle suit.
He should have been told that orange is not a good colour for grown ups who want to be taken seriously.
Dumisa Masoka brought a sensitive, earnest voice to the role of The Prince. The Fairy Godmother (Alidoro) role was played by the rather sombre Alex Semple.
A terrific voice but perhaps there could have been a tad more work on the comic potential of a chap with a beard striding around in a wimple and powder-blue frock?
The Courtiers were a total blast. Three blokes looking like a scrum second-row in pumps with bows, primary coloured smocks with pompoms, too much makeup and navel length blond wigs.
The one in green had the comic talent of a Michael Palin/Spike Milligan love child.
The surtitles summed up the mood perfectly as the cast signed off: “This is a tangled mess; what a mad group of people”.
Fabulous.
