The Sorrows of Young Werther. The labors of tenor Francesco Demuro who alternates between La Fenice in Venice for Verdi's "La Traviata" and Massenet's opera proposed at the Teatro Comunale in Sassari. The adaptability of director Stefano Vizioli and the cast who had to give up the scenography created on the stage and perform in the proscenium due to the blockage of the fire door.
In the emergency the operation was very successful, because the French composer's “Werther” (inspired by Goethe's text) is a very intimate work, which ultimately lends itself well to a minimalist but effective staging with the fire door acting as a screen for the projections and as a “sheet” for the letters.
The singers and the orchestra are called to musically “move” the romantic drama. The emotional crescendo of the third and fourth acts moved the audience and led to deserved ovations for the two protagonists.
The tenor from Porto Torres Francesco Demuro is magnificent in portraying a Werther that spans the entire spectrum of feelings and does so vocally as well. His sunny high notes were already known, his maturity emerges in the half-tones, in the emission that is always controlled and subservient to the psychological variations of the protagonist.
At her side as Charlotte the Lithuanian Egle Wyss, mezzosoprano with a beautiful timbre, with emotional transport at the right moments. A beautiful "discovery" for the Sassari audience, even if we are talking about an artist established at an international level.
In the supporting characters, Ilaria Vanacore is centered both vocally and from an acting point of view in the role of Sophie, Charlotte's younger sister. The cast is completed by Andrea Porta (Le Bailli), Domenico Balzani (Albert) and five children and the children's choir directed by Salvatore Rizzu enliven the scene.
As for the performance of the de Carolis orchestra, conducted with a sure hand by Maestro Daniele Agiman, Demuro's spontaneous compliments at the end of the performance are enough.
Last note: a suggestive idea to open and close the work with an elderly Charlotte in a wheelchair, which recalls that ill-fated love, well represented by the hands of the two protagonists who reach out to each other but remain distant, never touching, a symbol of a love fulfilled in its purity but physically incomplete.