Opera Holland Park has made a name for itself rummaging around in the cupboard of v erismo and polishing up the gems they find. Puccini’s seldom-performed “ Edgar ” featured in the 2024 summer offering – to mixed reviews, mostly ascribed to the uneven quality of the work than the artistry – now complemented by a striking new double bill of Leoncavallo’s “ I Pagliacci ” (a new production from Martin Lloyd-Evans) and Wolf-Ferrari’s “Il segreto di Susanna,” a revival of John Wilkie’s 2019 production of a slender and witty domestic mystery. The show reflects the company’s imagination in exploring repertoire they know well – and which delights a loyal audience, supporting organization that receives no Arts Council funding – as well as mounting staples in ways that continue to surprise (a “Tosca” this summer keenly reimagined the piece; “La bohème” in 2023 was a miracle of invention).
This summer they have even branched out, for the first time, into Baroque opera, presenting a new staging of Händel’s “Acis and Galatea”, as well as offering their third Gilbert and Sullivan installment with Charles Court Opera with “The Yeoman of the Guard.” Segreto “Segreto,” with a libretto by Enrico Golisciani, is from 1909, and tells a brilliantly elusive and evocative story. The title character is a secret smoker, and the scent of cigarettes makes her baritone husband suspect another lover, as if he has seen too many Hollywood movies in whi.