Had everything gone to plan at Covent Garden, the Royal Opera would have completed a Verdi cycle in time for last year's centenary of the composer's death. But the ambitious plan foundered in the financial and logistical chaos of the ROH closure in the late 1990s, and some of the productions that should have formed part of the celebration are appearing only now. Last night saw the opening of a new staging of Il Trovatore, directed by Elijah Moshinsky and conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
It's a co-production with the Teatro Reale in Madrid, and the show bears all the characteristics of one of the Royal Opera's collaborations with a wealthier company. Conspicuous consumption is everywhere in the sets by the Italian film designer Dante Ferretti, who worked with Pasolini, Fellini and Martin Scorsese.
With costumes by Anne Tilby, the action is transplanted to 19th-century Italy, the time of the work's composition and the Risorgimento, is also a homage to Visconti's film Senso; what all that brings to Verdi's opera, though, is less obvious.
Within these massive designs Moshinsky has created an utterly conventional production, with characters straight out of the cartoon book of operatic heroes and villains.
Jose Cura sings the role of Manrico, the troubadour of the title, with coarse tone, sloppy phrasing, and stereotypical gestures.
Dmitri Hvorostovsky's Count Luna is more stylish vocally, but his arrogant bastard persona is just as two-dimensional. Veronica Villaroel is Leonora, with some interesting colours in her voice especially in the lower register, yet insufficient security to get through the role convinc ingly. The Swiss mezzo Yvonne Naef makes a stronger impression as Azucena; she at least suggests some belief in what she is doing on stage.
All you need for Trovatore, Enrico Caruso once said, "is the four best singers in the world". The Royal Opera doesn't quite have that, but it has assembled a cast that with stronger direction, and conducting by Rizzi that contained even a hint of dramatic electricity, the results could be a whole lot more involving than they are. The choreographing of the chorus at the beginning of the third act is one of the funniest things I've seen in ages, but otherwise this is a very long evening.
· In rep until May 14. Box office: 020-7304 4000.
