Rossini's  The Italian Girl in Algiers

Scottish Opera, Glasgow and touring, Autumn 2009

Photographs by Drew Farrell, courtesy of Scottish Opera.

The Team

Mustafa - Tiziano Bracci

Isabella - Karen Cargill

Lindoro - Thomas Walker

Elvira - Mary O’Sullivan

Zulma - Julia Riley

Haly - Paul Carey Jones

Taddeo - Adrian Powter

Bikini Girls - Kimberley Lawrie,  Lucy Boyes and Azumi Ono

Conductor - Wyn Davies

Director - Colin McColl

Designer and Lighting - Tony Rabbit

Costumes - Nic Smillie

This joint production with New Zealand Opera with its setting as a soap opera won generally positive reviews. Anna Picard (The Independent on Sunday ) wrote that "this Italian Girl in Algiers is irresistible." Michael Turnelty in The Herald was of much the same opinion, "This is an opera production for the digital age with multiple layers operating at once. Somewhere in the mix is Rossini’s opera, though the purists will consider it lost" and praised the singers "The cast is fabulous, with Karen Cargill, Tiziano Bracci and Thomas Walker in particular pelting full-on into the spirit of the show. Och; just go and see it. Have some fun."  Rowena Smith in The Guardian also agreed : “The concept fits well with the comic tone of the opera” but "while the production is delightfully over the top, it never sacrifices the quality of the music" and, although “Purists may despair,[...] this Italian Girl is a lot of fun and not to be missed”. However, Fiona Maddocks in The Observer was clearly one of the purists not only detesting "this lurid, clumsy, coarse knockabout show" but finding no relief in the music "Had musical standards been sharper, all this might have been bearable"

Haly  and Mustafa with the Bikini Girls

Taddeo, Isabella, Mustafa

Mustafa and Isabella

Bikini Girls and Adrian Powter as Taddeo

Elvira and Mustafa

Lindoro and the Bikini Girls

Shot giving a better idea of the overall staging