Whatever… bring it on!

Probably the main reason why the Royal Opera’s current management has asked David McVicar to create six new productions of major operas in less than ten years is that he never tampers with the libretto and yet adds to it a modern-looking polish. McVicar’s takes on Gounod, Mozart, Strauss and Verdi never challenge anything (neither the story lines nor the characters’ personae) and, as a result, are safe and revivable. At the same time, they usually add some gritty details to the story: the inexplicable (aborted?) child in Faust’s Walpurgisnacht, the orgy at the beginning of Rigoletto (which made a lot of sense), the blood-drenched head of John the Baptist in Salome (decapitated by a 'pressing catch' actor completely naked, by the way), the marvellously-timed and blood-chilling slap the Count gives to the Countess at the end of act 2 of…