‘McVicar’s recipe for making it work is simple: meticulous, musically responsive direction’ The Sunday Telegraph (on La Traviata).
World-renowned Scottish director David McVicar returns to Scottish Opera to stage his first Rake’s Progress, in partnership with Olivier award-winning designer John Macfarlane. A colourful tale of debauchery with a brilliant verse libretto by W.H.Auden and bevy of larger-than-life characters, this is the perfect focus for McVicar’s particular brand of incisive storytelling.
Tom Rakewell abandons his sweetheart and his simple country life in favour of the bright lights of London. He sets off to seek his fortune in the company of Nick Shadow, a mysterious man with some distinctly devil-like tendencies. But after a stay in Mother Goose’s tavern, a meeting with a bearded lady, and a game of cards with unusually high stakes, things don’t look promising for our hero…
A 20th-century pastiche of late 18th-century opera, the music of The Rake’s Progress owes much of its inspiration to Mozart – harpsichord-accompanied recitatives and an orchestration suggestive of The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte combine in Stravinsky’s own distinct take on the neo-classical style. A cast including Scottish Opera favourite Edgaras Montvidas, Steven Page (highly praised in English National Opera’s recent A Dog’s Heart) and internationally acclaimed recitalist Carolyn Sampson brings the production to life.
This new production, co-produced with Turin Opera and supported by The Scottish Opera Syndicate, is sung in English with English supertitles.