Last Updated on June 8, 2026
A ‘Fantastique’ Music Box of Delights – The Tales of Hoffman
‘The Tales of Hoffmann’, an ‘opera fantastique’, was Jacques Offenbach’s valedictory work and an attempt by the composer, the king of the one-act operetta, to be taken seriously by the Parisian musical establishment. Offenbach died in October 1880, score in his hand, four months before the premiere, the orchestration being finished by friend and fellow composer Ernest Guiraud.
With a libretto written by Jules Barbier, The Tales of Hoffmann is based on three short stories by ETA Hoffmann who, in a post-modern twist is also the story’s protagonist. Offenbach had seen and been inspired by the play ‘The Fantastic Tales of Hoffmann’ in 1851 at the Odéon Theater, Paris. The play, written by Barbier and Michel Carré, forms the backbone of the opera. After returning from America in 1876, Offenbach learned that Barbier had created a libretto from the play, with composer Hector Salomon set to write the score. Fortuitously Salomon handed the project to Offenbach and the opera was first performed in a public venue at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881 without the third (Venice) act.
We enjoyed director Damiano Michieletto’s Calabrian take on Cav and Pag as well as a delightful Don Pasquale set in a ‘shabby looking 60s motel. For his Carmen earlier this year Michieletto and set designer Paolo Fantin located the drama in a deracinated fantasy 1970s world that for me lacked the texture that the opera demands. But ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’ is another creature altogether so I was fascinated to see how the same team of Michieletto and Fantin approach it. The opera consists of three discrete acts, bookended by a prologue and epilogue, each telling the story of one of Hoffmann’s ill-fated love affairs. The three stories are morality tales that lampoon the Romantic ideal of love and chart the poet’s painful journey to maturity. In the prologue, we realise that the stories within the three acts are seen through the lens of the fantastical and hazily drunken recollection of the older Hoffmann, at best an unreliable narrator. Whilst there is plenty of romance on offer, Offenbach’s natural melodic vivacity and subversive sense of humour shine through this surreal and supernatural study of Hoffmann’s chaotic emotional journey.
The prologue is set in Luther’s Tavern in Nuremberg and sets the pattern for the three upcoming acts. English bass Jeremy White, who made a lovely Benoit in Richard Jones’ La Bohème at the ROH, brings a shambolic sense of bonhomie to the role of Luther. Fantin’s set is bare bones but effective, the walls and door of a smoke-filled bar room filled with bow-back chairs.
The older iteration of Hoffmann is in love with Stella, a prima donna who is performing in a production of Don Giovanni. There has been a misunderstanding between the two lovers which Stella seeks to resolve, sending her room key to Hoffman. However, the key is intercepted by Councillor Lindorf, Hoffmann’s rival for Stella’s affections. Each act features Hoffmann, his latest inamorata and a disruptive ‘nemesis’ figure, a love rival or in some instances something much darker. The ‘Stella’ character is a synthesis of the three other love interests in the opera – the ‘doll’, the ‘singer’ and the ‘courtesan’.
In a production where dance elements are a central feature, the show opens with the ‘Spirits of Wine’, a balletic group of dancers humorously choreography by Chiara Vecchi decked out in costume designer Carla Teti’s high camp emerald-green feather headdresses and wings. The great British mezzo-soprano Christine Rice is the Muse of Poetry, last spotted also dressed in green as the chilling Princess in Puccini’s ‘Suor Angelica’ at the ENO. Her mission is to have Hoffmann focus on his art, leaving behind romantic notions of love. Rice is charming in the role bringing a typically characterful reading to the stage without overplaying and her voice is as always a textural delight.
French-Canadian mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne brought perfect diction and a sensual warmth of tone to the role of Nicklausse, the Muse pretending to be Hoffmann’s companion, and in this production a parrot!
Star Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez is one of the great ‘bel canto’ singers of our time. Despite being most definitely middle-aged he is annoyingly almost more convincing as the younger Hoffmanns than as the older grey-haired version. His voice retains its youthful lustre and sheen and somehow he credibly inhabits even the Act 1 student Hoffmann, an absurd romantic neophyte full of youthful ardour and naivety (‘ J’ai des yeux’). I guess I’m just jealous! Flórez may not have the tonal flexibility of a Domingo but he makes a compelling central character in this production, brilliantly bringing out the comedic wordplay in the libretto as Hoffmann recounts the legend of the dwarf Kleinzach to students in the tavern. Flórez is sharing the role with another star tenor, Leonardo Caimi.
Italian bass-baritone Alex Esposito has the unenviable task of covering four roles – all baddies. There is the love rival Lindorf – resplendent in an avocado-coloured waistcoat – the inventor/salesman Coppélius of Act 1, the black-gloved psychotic Dr Miracle of Act 2 and the controlling, manipulative Captain Dappertutto of the final act. Esposito is brilliant, his voice often dominating the stage, it has a litheness as well as power and resonance that is mirrored in his movement. There is something of a young Groucho Marx or even the comedian Ben Elton about him, as he prowls the stage creating mayhem – it’s a truly devilish set of portrayals.
The Tales of Hoffmann is nothing without its love interests. Chilean-French actress and singer Maria Léon is strikingly enigmatic as Stella, the Milanese diva with her bright red hair and maroon boa.
But the greatest vocal plaudits go to Russian soprano Olga Pudova as Olympia, the automated doll of Act 1 that Hoffmann mistakes for a human. Her rendition of “The Doll Song”, a dazzling coloratura showcase for the soprano voice at its most acrobatic with a series of chromatic leaps combined with robotic choreography, deservedly brought the house down.
By Act II Hoffmann’s love for the dying singer Antonia is much more nuanced and developed. Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho delivers a touching portrayal bringing emotional depth both to her vocal delivery and her acting.
The Act 2 set is pink and white, with adult dancers with cellos and child dancers, delicate and expressive as young ballerinas creating movement and emotion. I’m not sure why the director made Antonia a ballerina to further confuse what is already a complex narrative as it goes directly against the libretto which clearly makes her a singer.
The final act is set in Venice where the poet reluctantly falls for the courtesan Giulietta. Italian-American soprano Marina Costa-Jackson makes for a fine femme fatale wrapped up in gold lamé. She gets to sing the Barcarolle – a traditional Venetian gondolier song – (Offenbach’s version is ‘Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour’) in a sultry duet with Nicklausse. It’s a transcendent piece of musical theatre.
In what is a very fine ensemble cast, French tenor Vincent Ordonneau brings a characterful intensity to the role of the scientist Spalanzani, ‘father’ of Olympia.
British bass Alasdair Miles is anguished and angry as Crespel father of Antonia.
And French tenor Christophe Mortagne, fresh from his eccentric Monsieur Triquet in ‘Eugene Onegin’, covered a lot of bases as Andrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio, with his ‘dance-teacher’ Frantz being particularly striking.
Conductor Antonello Manacorda, also from the team that had worked on Carmen, controlled the dynamics and dramatic ebbs and flows of the score for The Tales of Hoffmann very effectively with the band sounding flawless. The Royal Opera House Chorus mostly does a great job pivoting from a full-throated roar in the drinking songs to a more sensual softer sound. However, last night there were a few occasions where they rushed ahead of the beat; this may have been first-night nerves.
With a few minor caveats, this is a terrific production of one of the great operas. There are lots of visual diversions to keep you going through the three-plus hours (including two intervals) and inventive sets and staging to complement the music that is of the highest quality. Go and see it!
7 November–1 December 2024
Royal Opera House
Bow Street,
London, WC2E 9DD
Wonderful singing but I didn’t like the production
Good review