Catching up on neglected works is one of the joys of summer seasons of country-house opera. This year, Grange Park, having satisfied traditional clients with productions of Iolanthe and La Bohème, rounds off its season with Emmanuel Chabrier's Le Roi Malgré Lui, a rarity long acknowledged as a masterpiece.
In such instances of neglect, there is always a snag, and the obvious one here is the impossibly involved plot, telling the story of the French prince, Henri de Valois, elected King of Poland in 1574. He outwits his would-be assassins by posing as his best friend, Nangis, even at one point joining the conspirators and offering himself as the assassin-in-chief. Sadly, Chabrier lacked a librettist with the necessary light touch. And anyway, as a Wagnerian, he conceived his opera not as an opera buffa or operetta, but as a far more substantial work.
Ravel so loved Le Roi Malgré Lui that he said he would rather have written it than Wagner's Ring cycle, and, despite the plot, the music makes one understand why. What is particularly striking is the brilliance of the ensembles, with contrasting layers of music often superimposed. The end of act one illustrates this. When Henri and Alexina are alone on stage, the tensions between them are heightened by evocative off-stage voices: the ecstatic Minka expressing her love while a troop of soldiers passes by. Minka, servant to Nangis and in love with her master, is by far the most sympathetic character in the opera, and Chabrier gives her much of the most touching music. That Minka is finally united with her beloved Nangis adds to the Cinderella element running through the piece.
Director Simon Callow presents the opera in English, with the lyrics translated by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and the spoken dialogue by himself. But including so much dialogue makes the piece seem dangerously long, and, though the words are remarkably clear, notably from Stephan Loges as Henri, they are completely swallowed up in the many ensembles, making one yearn for surtitles, even for an opera in English. The two female roles are very well taken, with Mary Plazas bringing out the menace as well as the charms of Alexina, and Alison Roddy as Minka well-matched against tenor Fredrik Strid as Nangis.
The staging, with handsome in-period sets and costumes by Ashley Martin-Davis, is spectacular, and the big opening ensemble of act two brings the sort of ball scene that makes one's blood surge.
Roderick Brydon is the idiomatic conductor, warm and understanding even when the choral ensemble is not as crisp as it might be. This production demonstrates that, for all its shortcomings, Le Roi Malgré Lui richly deserves more than the occasional airing.
· In rep until July 11. Box office: 020-7320 5408.
