Verdi Falstaff opera to libretto by Arrigo Boito. Directed 2018 by Mario Martone at the Berlin Staatsoper under den Linden. Stars Michael Volle (Sir John Falstaff), Alfredo Daza (Ford), Francesco Demuro (Fenton), Jürgen Sacher (Dr. Caius), Stephan Rügamer (Bardolfo), Jan Martiník (Pistola), Barbara Frittoli (Mrs. Alice Ford), Nadine Sierra (Nannetta), Daniela Barcellona (Mistress Quickly), and Katharina Kammerloher (Mrs. Meg Page). Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatkapelle Berlin and the Staasopernchor (Chorus Master (Martin Wright). Set design by Margherita Palli; costume design by Ursala Patzak; lighting design by Pasquale Mari; choreography by Raffaella Giordano; dramaturgy by Menjamin Wäntig. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released in 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Mario Martone's Falstaff is not a fat and impoverished member of the aristocracy seeking to maintain his status with a class he admires. Martone portrays Falstaff as an aging hippy forced to ingratiate himself with the upper class he used to despise. But, per Wikipedia, the key to both figures is their sense of "sublime self-conceit."
Picking on an aging champion of counterculture sounds a bit cruel rather than funny, but Hugo Shirley, who saw this live, says that Volle’s comic chops and charisma makes it work especially with the outstanding cast assembled to support him. And Tony Cooper, who also saw this live, reports that the packed house loved every minute “judging by their thunderous curtain-call.” Both critics praised Barenboim’s rendition of what is considered the greatest orchestral score of Verdi’s output. There is some raunchy sex in this that might have seemed excessive to good old earnest Joe Green. But if you like aggressive updates of classic operas, this looks like a winner.
Here’s a trailer from a TV channel that featured this (could be this is not from Mancini’s file):
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