![]() ![]() Silins has an eerie ghostly presence from start to finish, his strong bass-baritone voice with a certain grit and world weariness. ![]() The net result is that Milling contrasts effectively with Egils Silins, making his Royal Opera debut as the Dutchman. Similarly, though his eagerness to marry Senta to the Dutchman derives from a basic calculation as to the benefits, this helps us to see him not as an ogre but as a hearty middle of the road human being. One can genuinely picture someone who is so close and yet so far from being home feeling as he does: annoyed and disappointed, yet hardly suicidal. It is not just the purity of tone in his rich bass voice that wins us over, but also the way in which his emotions feel very human. Stephen Milling is an instantly likeable Daland. In the Dutchman’s main encounter with Senta, a single hanging lamp provides the main source of illumination. On land, the stage is filled with rows of sewing machines and a gangway, and David Finn’s lighting is kept generally low throughout, hinting at the ghostly mystique of the scenario. On the physical level this could simply represent his means of coming ashore, but it also reveals how he is shackled to the high seas. ![]() Ladders and ropes cross the stage, and it is interesting that the Dutchman first appears at the end of a long rope. When it rises, we are met with Michael Levine’s bare sloping stage that curves up at the back corners, emulating a ship while also providing a suitable basis for the land scenes. The Overture, superbly conducted by Jeffrey Tate, sees ripples sent across, and rain appearing on, the stage curtain, thus simulating a stormy sea. The production was nominated for an Olivier Award in 2009, and watching how it generates a potent atmosphere from start to finish, it is easy to see why. While the cast contains several people who only recently made their Royal Opera debuts, it is packed with as many gems as the Dutchman’s own ship. This first revival does not boast anyone with such a high public profile, especially since Falk Struckmann is not playing the title role as originally planned, but that is no cause for concern. When Tim Albery’s Der fliegende Holländer first appeared at the Royal Opera House in 2009, one of its main selling points was the appearance of Bryn Terfel as the Dutchman. ![]()
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