Fairy Godmother saves opera

By John Eccles

IT is the moment every operatic company dreads. The first night of the season and one of the leading ladies and her understudy are sick. Then into the breach steps a fairy godmother!

It happened at Glyndebourne Touring Opera s opening night on Monday when Colette Delahunt , in the role of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, was indisposed.

Then, that very morning, her understudy Tamsin Coombs fell ill.

Step forward Marie Arnet.

By a miracle, Marie was not only free to travel down to Lewes from London but she knew the role, having understudied it in the main Glyndebourne Festival this year.

This is an extremely lively production with superb performances by the Countess, Sinead Mulhern, and Figaro, James Rutherford.

Marie made light of her role as Susanna as far as the audience could make out, she was faultless, despite having some difficult stage moves to make, as well as having to remember her lines at such short notice.

The Touring Opera season is always conducted in a more light-hearted manner than the main season. Le nozze is no exception. The stage-set is a masterpiece of under-statement and the cast seem to shift almost surrealistically between modern and period dress. There also some strange moves from the chorus. At one point, at the opening of an act, they appear to be baaing like sheep!

Altogether a great deal of fun. Figaro in particular seemed to relish his role, as did the Count (D Arcy Bleiker).

So, a rollicking good time making a three-hour performance with only a 20-minute interval seem like a stroll.

Tonight (Friday) sees the opening performance of Beethoven s Fidelio. Also in this season s repertoire is Handel s Rodelinda.