Less than one week after Handel’s widely beloved, almost three-hundred-year-old work, Serse, was splendidly staged by students of the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music – in its English translation as Xerxes – Lyric Opera of Melbourne provides another encounter with its romantic entanglements, set to music of luminous beauty.
Opening Thursday evening at Gasworks Theatre and directed with comical care by Beng Oh, it is a delightfully pretty production that deftly bridges a sense of the work’s original Baroque era with English Regency and contemporary sensibility.
In the performance program, Oh refers to “the exploits of the Prince Regent, the future George IV, and his scandal-filled life and reign,” as the inspiration for his interpretation of a narrative based on the Persian King Xerxes I in around 470 BC.
That conceit finds a natural fit with a titular character depicted with particular pottiness by the colourful and ripe-voiced mezzo soprano Sally-Anne Russell, who leads a sparkling cast with uncustomary endearing charm.
The opening lyrics of Ombra mai fu – with Serse singing poetically of his love for a plane tree providing him shade – establish that oddity, and it is carried through with flair as Russell embellishes her music with sudden behavioural shifts that mine many a comic possibility, often signing off divinely sung phrases with a comical flourish.
Rather than territorial expansion being on the political agenda, Serse’s seeming sole purpose is his hot pursuit to wed Romilda (Kate Amos). But Serse’s brother Arsamene (Naomi Flatman) and Romilda are in love; her sister Atalanta (Rebecca Rashleigh) is in love with Arsamene, while Serse’s forsaken betrothed, Amastre (Olivia Federow-Yemm) plots her way to find her way back to the king disguised as a soldier in Serse’s army.
Entanglements are finally put to rest when Romilda and Atalanta’s father and General of the Armies, Ariodate (Christopher Hillier), takes Serse at his word – albeit mistakenly – and assumes that Romilda is to marry Arsamene as the reward for his recent victory in battle, while Serses had intended the prize for himself.
In a performance highlight of many, Russell’s comic form is at its peak as she gallivants with Romilda’s handkerchief, singing with swooning expressivity and melting fluidity in Più che penso alle fiamme del core, while Serse basks in his unquenchable love.
Soprano Amos delivers an outstanding performance as Romilda – as elegant and richly expressive in her vocal style as she is in her physical presence. That is especially evident in a heartfelt display when unleashing the gorgeous, fluttering coloratura of Chi cede al furore, with seemingly effortless agility and glistening top notes matched by resoluteness in her declaration of constancy.
A heartwarming chemistry flickers between Amos and mezzo-soprano Flatman’s ardent and distinguished Arsamene, whom she renders with a sumptuously beautiful and intelligently balanced tone.
As the mischievous Atalanta, Rashleigh bejewels the work with her vivacious turn and velvety, mercurial soprano, amusingly coquettish in her scheming and impeccably compelling vocally from the get-go with Và godendo vezzosetto, as she muses on the prospect of winning Arasamene.
Despite bringing dark-hued intrigue, the fiercely felt vengeance born of Amastre’s abandonment is somewhat lukewarm in mezzo-soprano Federow-Yemm’s otherwise accomplished rendition.
Hillier brings great expertise as a commanding singer and comic actor to Ariodate with his ornately buttressed baritone, and the flamboyance that flexible baritone Luke Bell brings to Elviro – notably in disguise as a lady flower seller – adds a little more silliness to proceedings. Missing was a dedicated chorus for each of the three act-ending choral numbers, with the ensemble doubling up instead.
With romantic webs taking centre stage, allusions to the Regency era rested in picture-book decoration. Christina Logan-Bell’s designs incorporate a central sunken pit, in which a small chamber orchestra of 10 musicians, led by artistic director Patrick Burns, produced music of overall warmth and vitality, while never being forgotten as a little part of the action.
Obediently symmetrical in its execution, two classical columns rise up on each side, a background curtain invariably reveals an oversized cameo-like necklace – on which a handful of feeble images are projected – while the performance space is a rectilinear pathway, cleverly conveyor-like, that encompasses the pit and veers off to the wings.
Costumes vividly embrace the range of royal, militaristic and commoner styles, providing clear character and class delineation, while Shane Grant’s lighting design floods the setting with confectionery sweetness.
Both visually and musically, it all combines with a liveliness that makes Handel’s work shimmer, adding substance to a year in which Baroque opera is enjoying a little more attention in Melbourne.
Serse
Gasworks Theatre, 21 Graham Street, Albert Park
Performance: Thursday 10 September 2026
Season continues to 13 September 2026
Bookings: www.gasworks.org.au
For more information, visit: www.lyricopera.com.au for details.
Images: Lyric Opera of Melbourne presents Serse – photos by Jodie Hutchinson
Review: Paul Selar