Opera Scotland

Roi malgré lui 1994Opera North

Read more about the opera Roi malgré lui

Chabrier was a major focus of the 1994 Festival, marking the centenary of his death. The Usher Hall saw a concert performance of the surviving act of an unfinished serious piece, Briséïs. Opera North's significant contribution to the festivities included a staging of his enchanting comic masterpiece L' étoile. This was rather overshadowed by memories of the wonderful Lyon production, a highlight of the 1985 Festival.

More interesting, then, was this attempt to rescue the musically rich but dramatically inadequate Reluctant King from oblivion. The text sung was not merely a new translation, but a comprehensive exercise in redrafting the plot, invented by Michael Wilcox and director Jeremy Sams. However well-intentioned, it does not appear to have been enough of an improvement to allow the opera to take on new life, despite the best efforts of a good cast of experienced singers, including Russell Smythe, Justin Lavender, Geoffrey Dolton, Nicholas Folwell and Rosa Mannion.

The character descriptions in brackets are derived from the original version.