Verdi's Falstaff
Richard Jones (stage director), Vladimir Jurowski (conductor) – With Christopher Purves (Falstaff), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Mistress Quickly), Jennifer Holloway (Meg Page)...
Cast
Richard Jones — Stage director
Ultz — Set designer
Mimi Jordan Sherin — Lighting
Linda Dobell — Movement director
Christopher Purves — Falstaff
Dina Kuznetsova — Alice Ford
Tassis Christoyannis — Ford
Program notes
Falstaff in Richard Jones' delightful production for the Glyndebourne Festival.
Although it contains elements of tragic heroism, typical of Verdi’s operas, it is comedy that is very much to the fore in Falstaff. No aria di bravura is to be found, as would be the case in Bellini's or Puccini's works. In Falstaff, Verdi uses the music to simply hold the storyline together.
Drawing inspiration from Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff is a shallow, vain and pitiful character, not a hero. It is the women in the story who are the true heroes. They trick the lustful Fasltaff and Mrs Quickly best expresses the moral of the story: women are cunning as a fox!
