This autumn, Scottish Opera’s production Opera Highlights has toured 17 venues across Scotland, both urban and rural. Closing night took place here in Edinburgh, at the Traverse Theatre.
Music Director and pianist Meghan Rhoades accompanied the four singers — soprano Ceferina Penny, mezzo-soprano Chloe Harris, tenor Luvo Maranti, and baritone James Geidt — who all had wonderful chemistry and stage presence. Chloe Harris was particularly adaptable in expressing a range of emotions.
The show consists of pieces taken from seven operas, all in English, though some were translated. Spanning the 18th to 20th centuries, these operas include Werther and A Hand of Bridge. The opera is set in an office, where one colleague is leaving the company. A love triangle emerges, a Christmas party takes place, and, as the champagne flows, a ‘hat of peacock feathers’ is bought and delivered. It is a chain of events producing no climax, and no particular resolution. The storytelling does not do justice to such an emotional and expressive art form.
Design elements were effective in moving the show along and marking transitions. Beautiful beige sets and costumes were offset with colourful lighting in the second act, set at a party. Singing added to the lively spirit, hilariously juxtapositing the melodramatic office culture created in the first act.
For an operatic comedy, I wish Opera Highlights had received more laughs. I suspect it came down to the gappy plot—during the interval I could hear members of the audience expressing their confusion. The jumble of operatic texts meant that if the goal of this production was to make opera accessible, the loss of a clear narrative hindered rather than helped.
Opera Highlights could have taken this opportunity to convey a personal and relevant message to people throughout Scotland, through this dynamic and exciting form of entertainment.
Image by Sally Jubb, courtesy of Scottish Opera.
