Don Giovanni review: Holten's dizzying, uneven revival — SkimNews
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- Kaspar Holten's 2014 Don Giovanni staging, revived by Greg Eldridge, locates the action between 1850 and 1900 with Es Devlin's Escher-inspired revolving set and Anja Vang Kragh's semi-stylised costumes, while Luke Halls' projections turn the overture into a visual catalogue of the Don's sexual conquests.
- The Champagne Aria rotates projections of buildings, rooms and staircases at "dizzying speed" around the Don, with Bruno Poet's lighting keeping the visuals from overwhelming the singers.
- As Giovanni's grasp on reality recedes, a handful of ghostly exes multiply into a legion by the final act — and the Commendatore leaves him drained and alone rather than dragging him to hell.
- The reviewer criticizes Holten's women: Donna Anna's split between desire and guilt weakens Donna Elvira's arc, while Zerlina is the only one who acts, tearing her clothes to prefigure sexual assault before it occurs.
- Gordon Bintner sings Giovanni as a jaded Lothario at full ringing power, paired with Roberto Tagliavini's beefy-voiced, hangdog Leporello.
- Aigul Akhmetshina delivers a standout Donna Elvira with power and passion, while Rachel Willis-Sørensen's Donna Anna brings plenty of decibels but lacks flexibility at the very top.
- Stefano Montanari conducts a punchy account of the score with phrasing generally attentive to voices, though the reviewer notes occasional coordination problems between pit and stage.
Why it matters: A revival that delivers Holten's visual gamble — projections of sexual conquests flooding the overture, Escher-inspired sets rotating at dizzying speed — but the reviewer's verdict turns on uneven character work: only Zerlina takes an active role among the women, while Donna Anna and Donna Elvira blur into similar arcs. The production's #MeToo resonance, the review argues, outpaces the female characters it aims to illuminate.
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