Bizarrely funny: Shostakovich's The Nose in Madrid.

Madrid, March 15, 2023.

The Teatro Real continues to expand its repertoire by staging still to premiere operas on its stage, and like in last season, March begins with a Russian opera: The Nose, by Dmitri Shostakovich. Twelve years ago, the Madrileños enjoyed his great opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, in a production featuring Eva-Maria Westbroek and the classic staging by Martin Kusej. Now, we change Katerina Ismailova's tragedy for the absurd humor of Kovalyov's story, a general who loses his nose, and once separated from his body, it starts to live its own life. Based on the story by Nikolai Gogol, in which the Russian bureaucracy is satirized, a young Shostakovich,  in a time when Hollywood movies brought an air of modernity in the early years of Stalinism, and in which Soviet art was experiencing a creative effervescence, composed a work that unites traditional Russian styles with atonality. This did not save him from bad reviews after its premiere in 1929, and his work did not resurface completely until a production in Moscow in 1974.

Coming from London's Royal Opera House, where it was premiered in 2016, Barrie Kosky's staging highlights the most absurd, bizarre and rogue side of the work, creating a fantasy world, in which the characters are characterized by colorful and fanciful shape, all with a big nose, in an aesthetic somewhat reminiscent of Tim Burton's, even though the characters move across a gray, rough, wide set. This production a makes Kovalyov's world, who has a relationship with his servant Ivan, even more absurd, turns him into a dirty man (in fact, during a scene in which he picks his nose, he barefoots himself and takes off her socks, and touching his toes, two ladies sitting next to me were shocked, by judging their comments), who suffers a lot to find her nose.

This production is also known by its big, dancing noses who dance tap, in one of the most hilarious moments of the night, after which Kovalyov's nose addresses the audience in Spanish saying "Gracias, Madrid" (Thank you, Madrid). For this occasion, The Nose is sung in Russian, with some dialogues in Spanish.

The Teatro Real Orchestra, under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth, draws the orchestral power  from the score of a young Shostakovich. The interludes, which already carry his known breathtsking style (the woodwind reminding us sometimes the first movement of his Seventh Symphony) had astonishing renditions, in a work with a great presence of percussion. The Teatro Real Chorus once again sang with their enormous voices, in a work that pushes them to the very limits of vocalisation.

The leading role was sung by the Austrian bass-baritone Martin Winkler, who sang Arabella last month in this theatre, and in previous seasons Alberich in the Ring. Winkler's guttural voice allows him to adapt to Kovalyov's grotesque persona. Kovalyov goes through endless misadventures, which the story portrays with humor. In addition, this staging also demands a physical effort for Winkler, whose character, has filthy things to do on stage, such as whining, bawling and so on, making the audience laugh. One could imagine - since he has sung it in this stage - if Alberich could be receiving in Kovalyov's troubles, the punishment for the evil he did in Wagner's epic.

From the rest of the large, and devoted cast, made up of Russian, Eastern European and Spanish singers, we could mention the veteran Polish mezzo-soprano Agnes Zwierko, who sang the role of the Old Countess, in a scene where she had to bring out her very deep low notes. Tenors Vasily Efimov as Ivan the servant, Dmitri Popov as the policeman and Dmitri Ivanchey as the nose, without having the biggest voices, do their singing job and their portraits of such caricaturesque characters make them even funnier.

At the end of the play, the famous Spanish TV-host, Anne Igartiburu, clad in a stunning red sequined costume, appears to recite (in Spanish) the conclusion of Gogol's tale, recalling the absurdity and improbability of Kovalyov's story.

This is not an opera for every kind of audience, because of its very modern musical style, and it is because of its bizarre humor, some people comparing it to Monty Python's. Some people left the hall during the performance, but many others laughed a lot with the gags and scenes. As for every masterpiece, this opera is a must-see. And the truth is, that amusement is secured.

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