This Welsh National Opera production of La traviata continues to delight audiences with its period sets and costumes, tragic tale and, of course the towering majesty of Verdi’s music.

First staged in 2009 and directed by Sir David McVicar and now in the hands of director Sarah Crisp it doesn’t put a step out of place - with powerful characterization which wrings out our hearts.

It’s a grandiose production with Tanya McCallin’s lavish designs taking us into the ballrooms of 19th century Paris where women donned their finery, men were in dress suits and scandal was lapped up by high society.

And La traviata, based on the Alexandre Dumas fils novel and play La Dame aux camelias thrives on scandal. Violetta is La traviata, a high-class courtesan whose life is filled with dancing, parties and gossip - until she meets the besotted Alfredo who convinces her to give up the high life for love. But of course this is opera and both the romance and its heroine are doomed.

So much of the production depends on the role of Violetta as she holds the stage for much of the time and also needs to convince the audience of her change of heart, her true love and her final destiny. And Australian-Mauritian soprano Stacey Alleaume gives a truly spine-tingling performance.

She sparkles as the socialite, flitting from one person to another as she swirls her skirts and flirts, she falls completely in love with Alfredo, she prevaricates and then finally concedes when asked to give him up for the good of his family and she gives everything to the final scene in which love returns only to be consumed by death. Her performance of the tragic aria Addio, del passato is so finely tuned, every word and expression captivates.

David Junghoon Kim gives us a lovestruck Alfredo whose performance is confident but would benefit from a bit more animation to convince us just how obsessed he has become - and how devastating his loss.

It is Alfredo’s father Giorgio Germont who puts the fly in the ointment into the love affair and Mark S Doss has the appropriate gravitas for this. He retains an unwavering dignity throughout, despite meddling in his son’s romances and then regretting it.

Verdi’s score is magnificent and WNO’s orchestra, conducted by Alexander Joel, give it ample scope, ensuring we hear the sweeping power but also the delicacy of the more intimate moments.

La traviata is one of the world’s most popular operas and, when it is performed to this calibre, it’s easy to see why.

Five stars

Reviewed by Diane Parkes at Birmingham Hippodrome on Saturday 11 November.

Also reviewed by Sue Hull.

The ever-popular Welsh National Opera (WNO) have this week returned to their Midlands home of Birmingham Hippodrome to perform a short autumn season that includes La Traviata.  

Dealing with such dramatic subjects as love, betrayal, scandal and death, the Giuseppe Verdi masterpiece has been part of the company’s repertoire since 2009. This is their sixth revival of the work, with Sarah Crisp returning as revival director for the fourth time.

Based on the novel La Dame aux Chamelias, by Alexandre Dumas fils, and without question one of the most popular operas of all time, La Traviata tells the story of Violetta, an elegant Parisian courtesan who unexpectedly finds herself falling for penniless aristocratic poet Alfredo.

Violetta is willing to forfeit her glamorous, high-society lifestyle for the man that she loves, but meets with the disapproval of Alfredo’s father. He believes that she threatens his family’s reputation and status in society, not to mention the marriage prospects of Alfredo’s younger sister.
Considered a ‘fallen woman’ with no moral standing, Violetta is persuaded to give up her dreams of love and end the relationship.

The plot is familiar, but what isn’t so well known is that La Traviata was the inspiration for both 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 epic musical Moulin Rouge, with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. The music, too, is recognisable to many, even people unfamiliar with opera. In the accessibility stakes, La Traviata certainly ticks plenty of boxes.

WNO’s production is set in the mid-Victorian era and boasts traditional lavish costumes, wigs and make-up. The sets are elegant but not overstated, with black drapes and curtains perhaps foretelling of the tragedy to come.

Stacey Alleaume, a young Australian soprano, is making her UK debut as Violetta. She is an accomplished performer with a phenomenal vocal range and an equally impressive stage presence. Her rendition of Amati Alfredo - an aria where Violetta begs Alfredo to keep loving her before leaving him - and of Addio del Passato - a farewell aria to her happiness and future with Alfredo, sung when she realises she has lost her battle with tuberculosis - were simultaneously breathtaking and heart-breaking, bringing tears to my eyes.

Alfredo is played by David Junghoon Kim, whose charming and emotive tenor voice perfectly complemented Stacey’s soaring soprano vocals. He commanded the stage with the famous drinking aria, Brindisi, which in English translates to Toast and is a celebration of the pleasures of love, good company and wine. As you may imagine, a real party atmosphere was created on stage!

One of the highlights of the evening was the Matadors’ Chorus. A delightfully entertaining scene featuring the whole cast, it came complete with lots of frivolity, plenty of innuendo and, most memorably of all, a lively can-can routine. 

This was an impressive and faultless production of La Traviata, presented in three acts and almost two-and-a-half hours in length. The entire company were superb, with stand-out performances from all the main leads. I could happily have stayed to watch the whole performance again at the final curtain, as I applauded along with the rest of the hugely appreciative audience. Poignant, powerful and incredibly moving, this was a fabulous night at the opera thoroughly enjoyed by all. 

Four stars

Reviewed by Sue Hull on Thursday 9 November at Birmingham Hippodrome