Returning to Glyndebourne for the beginning of the Touring Opera's season, wrapped up in jumpers and waterproofs, is almost as much of a pleasure as attending the posh-frocks-and-picnics performances during the summer. This year's tour kicked off with Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, a favourite at Glyndebourne. The opera is pretty much indestructible. That's a good job, because Graham Vick's production, new last year and revived during the summer, grafts on ideas, but can't disguise the fact that most are superfluous.
The English surtitles are symptomatic of this, bearing a fluctuating resemblance to the Italian actually being sung. Only some of the jokes are funny; musically, too, it's hit and miss. James Rutherford's Figaro is amiable and fluently sung, and Louise Armit's Cherubino warms up nicely. D'Arcy Bleiker has presence as the Count but could use more vocal authority, while Sinead Mulhern sings both the Countess's arias in a blandly beautiful mezzo forte. From the orchestra, conducted by Harry Bicket, there was some nicely punchy playing but some scrappy entries as well.
Along with Rutherford, Marie Arnet's Susanna is the highlight. The understudy from the summer run, she was rushed down to Glyndebourne because the tour's scheduled Susanna and understudy were simultaneously ill. She received the loudest applause, and would have deserved it in any circumstances.
We are in the same rehearsal room, complete with electric sockets and radiators, that Vick has used for all three of Mozart's Da Ponte operas. Within this are semi-transparent screens and doorways, ideal for showing eavesdropping and covert encounters. But the walls they suggest only exist when it suits Vick (and the revival director Jacopo Spirei). What's the point of the Count being able to slam a door in Marcellina's face, if she can then sidestep around it?
A lot of fuss surrounds Richard Hudson's (admittedly beautiful) costumes too. The characters start off in plain dress but walk off stage into the arms of wardrobe assistants, primed to make them ever more rococo. The Countess sparkles more each time we see her, and Susanna's hairdo is teased higher and higher. Perhaps this is supposed to reflect the way the audience is slowly drawn into the pre-Revolution world of the Almaviva household - but if we were just allowed to concentrate on the opera, there is a chance we would be there already. It's worth catching this Figaro, but, like the Almavivas' walls, you can see right through it.
In rep until October 25. Box office: 01273 813813. Then tours to Woking, Norwich, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Oxford and Stoke-on-Trent.
