That was one of the favourite expressions of a late friend of mine. He was no fool: once, to his surprise, his name appeared in a newspaper list of the 100 cleverest people in Britain. Our raised expectations are often dashed. Yet this month Parterre is asking us to tempt the devil by looking ahead to what most excites us about next season. On my schedule, currently of 20 performances, though more will no doubt get added in the course of the season, two stand out.
The first, in December, is Robinson Crusoé at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, conducted by Marc Minkowski and directed by Laurent Pelly. An Offenbach rarity by a pair who’ve given us so much fun in the past – I think, especially, of La Belle Hélène and La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein, starring Dame Felicity Lott two decades ago – is something I don’t want to miss, even if their 2022 La Périchole didn’t quite fizz at those former heights, It’s hard to revive past success, but I dearly hope they’ll pull it off. With Lawrence Brownlee as Robinson and the likes of Julie Fuchs, Laurent Naouri, Marc Mauillon, and Adèle Charvet in the cast, they surely stand a chance.
The other prospect that had me glued to my computer on the very day and at the very hour booking opened was Janáček‘s Věc Makropulos, at the Opéra de Lille in February. One of my favourite operas by one of my favourite composers, and here with Véronique Gens in the fascinating title role. Again, for me, not to be missed when within such easy reach. I checked out Kornél Mundruczó’s production in photos (from Geneva) online. It looked interesting enough. I didn’t investigate further, not wanting to be swayed by reviews. Lille’s orchestra ought to be up to the task. The question for me, always, with this work, is whether the men will be. I hope so.
