Agrippina

Published Wednesday 7 February 2007 at 16:40 by George Hall

Unlike most of Handel’s operas, the early Agrippina was written not for London but for Venice, where it debuted in 1710. It’s been called his first great opera, and is certainly one of the funniest.

The brilliant libretto describes the machinations instigated by the unscrupulous Agrippina to ensure that her son, Nero, will succeed her husband Claudius as emperor. This is a woman who will stop at nothing, though her schemes are regularly complicated by the interventions of the lovely Poppea, whom all the men in the opera lust after.

McVicar’s production, originally seen in Brussels, is staged here by McVicar himself with Lee Blakeley. Presenting this cynical tale of sex and power-politics in the power-dressing of today proves a good idea. John Macfarlane’s imposing sets are dominated by a throne at the top of some stairs and include what is presumably the world’s first harpsichord bar.

But the evening feels long. It’s partly that Daniel Reuss’s conducting lacks theatrical pace, partly that the routines (including some of Andrew George’s choreography) are not as crisp as they should be but mostly because Handel’s three acts are played as two, giving us two ginormous segments of Wagnerian proportions instead of three manageable ones.

That should be rectified, because the cast is strong, with Sarah Connolly’s vivid Agrippina, Brindley Sherratt’s superbly sung Claudio and Lucy Crowe’s star turn as Poppea. Amanda Holden’s witty English translation is a another plus.