Falstaff rivisto

Giuseppe Verdi & Floris van Bergeijk/Arrigo Boito

The opera libretto is both witty and sensitive. Falstaff is not only a villain, but a sad individual as well. He continually falls prey to his addictions, namely eating, women and his lack of introspection. Although he is somewhat more dignified, he displays a certain similarity to Donald Duck-- he too seems to emerge anew from his egg every day. Good humored, equipped with an enormous appetite, he rushes headlong into the same snare that he dangled from yesterday.

For this adaptation of Verdi's masterpiece Falstaff, Opera Spanga collaborated with Rosa Ensemble. Rosa Ensemble is a sassy, inspiring group which has assumed a unique position in the music world by operating on the cutting edge of every imaginable sort of contemporary music. The ensemble has achieved considerable acclaim in the area of electronic-acoustic sound sources in a theater context. In Rosa Ensemble Opera Spanga has found a partner in its against-the-grain approach to the score.

Cast

Crew

Sir John Falstaff Peter Michailov
Alice Ford Francis van Broekhuizen
Ford Marcel van Dieren
Nannetta Esther Mugambi
Mrs. Quickly Klara Uleman
Meg Page Maaike Widdershoven
Fenton Tao Tong
Dr. Caius Charles Alves da Cruz
Pistola Dimitrie Lazich
Bardolpho Erik Slik
percussion Daniel Cross
piano Teodora Stepancic
bass Peter Jessen
guitar Jeroen Kimman
electronics Floris van Bergeijk
clarinet Ainhoa Miranda Gimenez
violin Vera van der Bie
decomposition Floris van Bergeijk met Jelte Heringa en Wilbert Bulsink
musical director Ezequiel Menalled
sound design Thomas Koopmans, Daniel Cross
director Corina van Eijk
art director Jolanda Lanslots
costume design Pieter van Rooij
gaffer Henk Post
photography Dinand van der Wal, Maarten van de Velde
editor Synco Schölvinck
make-up design Maya Schiffers
make-up assistant Andrej Gabron
tutor Nathalie Doucet
producer Greetje Sluijs
producer Rosa Ensemble Arjen Barel
office secretary Mieke Bender, Edda Grol
pr Lenneke Beunk, Bas Kleijn
ticketsales Bas Kleijn
engineer Gijs ‘t Hoen
assistant to the director Fabienne Boekel, Lieke van Hoogenhuyze
builders Tim van Broekhuizen, Bertus Fleer, Lillian van den Esker
sound assistant Gerrit Arnout
location manager Luuk Stelder
production assistants Stefan Wildeman, Kees Swart, Merle Eckhart
catering Zahra Belkaid
catering assistants Cock Swart, Stefan Wildeman
extra Fred Turner

Press

´Corina van Eijk's mini opera festival is known for its original ideas, but there has never been a Spanga summer that was so exciting.´

´(...)it has never sounded as humorous as in Spanga.´

In August 2012 the Volkskrant declared Falstaff rivisto to be one of the best Shakespeare interpretations in recent years.

´The essence of the opera remains intact.´

NRC Handelsblad, June 21, 2011

´Director Corina van Eijk, who with her Opera Spanga has more often than not given familiar repertroire an unorthodox twist, goes a giant step further with this frenzied Falstaff. (...) but regardless of how risky the undertaking may be, it works. (...) makes even more evident how ingenious it is put together.'

De Volkskrant, June 24, 2011

'Purists might disapprove, but it sings and swings like a bomb. (...) It is a sort of cultual Monty Python - extremely well done- and it perfectly reinforces the cartoon-like quality of this revised Falstaff. (...) It adds up to the most effervescent Opera Spanga in years. Go see it!'

Dagblad van het Noorden, June 24, 2011

'Falstaff rivisto', a modern Gesamtkunstwerk'

Leeuwarder Courant, June 23, 2011

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