No opera, not even Aida is more grandiose and exotic than Turandot - especially the way Lo King-man has directed his latest production.
The grandeur was in the sets, the lighting and the glittering costumes.
I cannot imagine a more 'Chinese' Turandot. In his last production, Lo King-man had one scene of swordplay.
Here, he managed to encompass Chinese dances (sword, lantern, scarf), Chinese execution, Chinese concubines, even a series of Chinese ghosts. Nor did he stint on the sets. Nothing was stylised or symbolic. Those thrones looked like gold, the pavilions glowed, the pieces of silk floating from the sky were like bolts from the blue, the columns were. . . well, frankly more Egyptian than Chinese. But they sure were colossal.
Yes, the exterior settings did the production proud. And while some of Lo King-man's habitual shortcomings were evident, the drama of the opera overcame minor problems.
The voices for this most difficult of operas humbled any critic.