Pan y toros Greetings from the Canary Islands, where my yacht the Scotland and I are now happily moored, after navigating the torrential and treacherous currents of Madrid’s Manzanares River. Although the city is much changed, the spirit is the same with which I fell in love, so many years ago. Ah, Mr. Editor ... I enjoyed the zarzuela so much yesterday. I was wary – in spite of reading many good reviews – because I know Pan y toros (by my old friends Barbieri and Picón) so well, and I know its odd corners, its potential, its weaknesses. Let me say at once that we are dealing with an absolutely impeccable staging; that is, we are dealing with a staging which is 100% theatrical and musical. Everything fits and works, except (perhaps) the choreography, which for my taste is excessively ‘fanciful’. But … well, if I’m truthful, I don’t mind that too much either, honestly. Juan Echanove, a great actor himself, has taken on Picón’s text with absolute focus, even rigour. There are cuts, of course, but they are perfectly reasonable and almost all help the plot development and to understand the characters. The blemishes in the production are mainly on the musical side. Guillermo García Calvo is beginning to ‘settle in’ with the style and customs of the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid and last night it sounded pallid. Besides, I’m very sorry, but you can’t do justice to Pan y toros by suppressing the offstage orchestra in the second act. The ‘Contradanza’ was played from the pit, that’s OK. But in the prayer ‘O Queen of Angels’ before the finale, the magic comes from the superimposition of the patriots’ prayer on stage and the offstage Gavotte being danced in Doña Pepita’s palace. But in this production the Gavotte goes for nothing: can we imagine a Don Giovanni, a Rigoletto, without onstage orchestras? This is an unjustifiable stinginess from a theatre dedicated to zarzuela. But alas, did anyone else in the theatre besides myself notice this yesterday? I doubt it. Another truly scandalous aberration: Enrique Viana as the Abate. He was completely out of place, turning a delightful character with great music into an unpleasant being, bent on shouting, screaming and, as a result, not sustaining his role because he was only concerned with pumping out the decibels. Oh, I’m sorry; sometimes I’m very cruel (it is my Eton schooling) – I don’t know why, but La Zarzuela has become his employment agency.
‘Hala!’ I’m done. The costumes, by the way, are very beautiful; and the movement and direction of the actors is quite impeccable. And now, I raise a glass of sweet sherry to my friends in Madrid! © Teddy Clyron and zarzuela.net, 2022
19/X/2022 |