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This was great fun! Lovely entertaining and very tuneful, rarely produced opera-comique. The set had a toytown quality, which well suited both the music and the production. The (very small) orchestra of only 15 or so players provided stylish support and while the music was not uniquely memorable it was greatly enjoyable with more than a few nods to Rossini.
The dialogue was spare but effective with some nicely amusing post-modern operatic references to lighten the mix. The energetic performances form all did more than justice to the work and I much liked the witty ending, with its sudden move to the modern world of marketing and selling – making use of Fra Diavalo as a figure around whom the town’s future success could be built.