Armando Iannucci’s libretto for David Sawer’s new operetta satirises the cosmetic surgery industry. Plastic surgeon Dr Needlemeier’s Swiss clinic is dedicated to “putting right what Nature got wrong”. His daughter will only marry her boyfriend Robert if he has some work done. Needlemeier beautifies receptionist Donna, with whom he is having an affair, while his wife Lania constantly redesigns herself. Hollywood star Luke Pollock has one of his testicles surreptitiously removed by Needlemeier to add to his secret elixir of youth, made up of human body parts. It’s a darkly comic fantasy, with identities confused as faces are swapped and individuals duplicated, though its progress towards an ineffective third-act climax seems convoluted and over-populated. Despite Sawer keeping the orchestra down, not all the text comes across, and what does lacks the bite of The Thick of It.
Some of Sawer’s score is genuinely attractive, though little of it hits the dramatic spot - even an uproarious second-act finale a la Rossini peters out. Elsewhere it lacks the memorability needed for theatrical success, whatever the genre, and also momentum.
But Opera North does it proud, with a sharp and snappy production by Richard Jones to neat designs by Stewart Laing. Two performances are pure brilliance - Geoffrey Dolton’s suavely sinister Needlemeier and Janis Kelly’s languid Lania - while Mark Stone’s Hollywood hunk is fun. Richard Farnes conducts an assured reading of the patchy score.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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