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by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Colin Graham

Canadian Opera Company, Hummingbird Centre, Toronto

January 22-February 7, 2004

Falstaff (seen January 22) was presented in the cumbersome production designed by the late Jean-Pierre Ponnelle.  Under Colin Graham’s insightful direction the singers responded with finely detailed performances to create a fully imagined comic world on stage.     

Genial British-Ukrainian bass Pavlo Hunka was a Falstaff to savour long after the opera has ended.  With his deliciously resonant voice and perfect comic timing, Hunka fully inhabited this most multifaceted of characters down to the roll of an eye and curl of a finger, missing perhaps only the pathos in great man’s contemplation of age in Act 3.  In an uneven cast, Wendy Nielsen as Mistress Ford stood out as strong and clear of voice.  As Nannetta, Elena Voznessenskaia’s bright soprano was a delight. Alvin Crawford and John Criter were hilarious as Falstaff’s sidekicks, but Franco Pomponi’s baritone needed greater heft to make Ford’s rages truly comic.      

In the pit Richard Bradshaw brought out the full wit and verve of Verdi’s score, though on stage the faster ensembles often lacked precision.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Opera News 2004-07.

Photo: Pavlo Hunka as Falstaff. ©2004.