Pia Furtado has returned to Scottish Opera with her direction of Jules Massenet’s Werther. Set at around the turn of the twentieth century it is based on Goethe’s ground breaking The Sorrows of Young Werther. The drame lyrique is sung in French with English supertitles and continues musical director Francesco Corti’s exploration of the French repertoire. We have not had a production of Werther in Scotland since 1986.
The plot is simple enough. A young artist, Werther, portrayed by American Jonathan Boyd with a crisp clear French voice, falls in love with Charlotte, portrayed by Hungarian Viktoria Vizin. He watches as her motherless family of a younger sister, with Anna Devlin as Sophie, and six young children get their breakfast. Jonathan Boyd, Viktoria Vizin and Anna Devlin are first timers with Scottish Opera.
But Charlotte is already committed to Roland Wood’s Albert, who returns after being away for six months. Another familiar face is Jonathan Best as Charlotte’s father, Le Bailli, and he and his friends occupy us as do the six children who we had first seen learning a carol.
In the end he can’t take it anymore and Werther has to bring it to a slow and tragic end.
Perhaps this time the Orchestra of Scottish Opera is the prominent force - for Massenet’s music is enchanting, lively and full of delicious variety, but in Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre sometimes just a little overbearing.
Werther is probably best for those who have seen all the popular offerings over the years and yearn for a little exploration beyond those safe limits. That way it is highly to be recommended.
Performance reviewed: Tuesday 26 February 2013 at 7.15pm.
Further performances on Thursday 28 February 2013 at 7.15pm, and Saturday 2 March at 7.15pm.