Bluebeard’s murderous mind games will grip you
Bondi born and raised baritone Daniel Sumegi must feel a special bond with his latest operatic role, the homicidal duke in Bela Bartok’s gripping psychological drama Bluebeard’s Castle.
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Bondi born and raised baritone Daniel Sumegi must feel a special bond with his latest operatic role, the homicidal duke in Bela Bartok’s gripping psychological drama Bluebeard’s Castle.
The son of an Australian-Polish mother and a Hungarian father and grandson of an Auschwitz survivor, Sumegi makes the role his own, singing in the original Hungarian in a stark and dark Opera Australia production, directed by Andy Morton and associate director Priscilla Jackman and led superbly by Italian conductor Andrea Molino, which plays over four nights in March.
It’s a bravura performance, and Sumegi is matched by Rumanian mezzosoprano Carmen Topciu as Judith, the would-be wife/victim who persuades the evil duke to reveal his castle’s gruesome secrets. The third, equally impressive, star of this gripping one-hour show is Opera Australia Orchestra under concertmaster Jun Yi Ma, for it is Bartok’s score with its Debussy-like ebb and flow that directs the action.
VISCERAL
Everything is suggested, especially in Bartok’s score where shrill semitone trills represent the blood which bathes whatever lies behind the various locked doors – Bluebeard’s torture chamber, armoury, treasury and gardens and lake of tears – allowing eyes and minds to draw their own conclusions.
Sumegi’s rich and radiant bass-baritone is complemented by his ominous stage presence and acting skills. Topciu, who as her first name would suggest, is a celebrated Carmen in Bizet’s much-loved opera and who was last seen here in that role, is a compelling and persuasive Judith with a powerful and even timbre across the range – and it’s needed with some of the most visceral orchestral writing of any opera.
As the prologue tells the audience, we are entering the world of myth: “Where did it happen, or did it never happen? Is there a moral? What does it mean, Ladies and Gentlemen? Your eyes are curtains and now you raise them …”
The set – banks of dimmed spotlights above, walls that “weep”, rough timber containers representing the locked doors of the castle, shifted around stage by masked roadies wearing beanies – also leaves much to the imagination. John Rayment’s lighting is used subtly, except for the final blazing climax when Judith leads the three surviving wives to the brilliantly luminous outside world.
This is a spinechilling hour to take your breath away.
DETAILS
●OPERA Bluebeard’s Castle, by Bela Bartok
●STARRING Daniel Sumegi, Carmen Topciu
●WHERE Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
●WHEN March 1
●SEASON March 5, 8 and 10
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