The Beautiful Helen in Sellosali in Espoo, the 16th of January, 2020

Last time I saw Jacques Offenbach’s opéra bouffe (or operetta) “The Beautiful Helen” a couple of years ago in Istanbul and I remember really liking the Turksih soloists. Now Teatro Productions performs it three times in a new Finnish translation in Sellosali in Espoo.

In the opera Paris wishes to have Helen, who has been promised to him as a prize, and he takes part in a quiz show in disguise and, of course, he wins it. Helen’s husband is tricked to leave on a trip and Paris manages to seduce Helen, who thinks it is all a dream. However, Helen’s husband unexpectedly returns and Paris has to leave. In the end Paris returns – again in disguise – and Helen leaves with him.

The director Ville Saukkonen had moved the opera from ancient Greece to the Scandinavian country of Sportia and to the time of beauty contests and quiz shows, which suited the story quite well.  Part of the jokes were super worn, but there were also some genuinely funny moments. It was all kind joking about the sport-crazy people of the Nordic countries and the characters were pure caricatures. And why not! If you do not expect any serious drama, you can watch this performance as proper brain-emptying entertainment.

The sets made by Antti Pylkkänen were rather few, since they consisted only of a couple of columns, some wall elements and a few benches. They gave surprisingly versatile backgrounds to the story from a bed to a ship. And they actually even allowed the characters play hide and seek, when someone on the stage was supposedly not to see another character. The costume design by Riia Lampinen was excellent. Some of the characters were really funny and the whole idea worked.

The orchestra was Teatro Ensemble, who unfortunately had so few members that I kind of missed a bit more effect (=more musicians) to create proper “volume”. “The beautiful Helen” is, after all, a rather racy piece and more so in this version of Saukkonen. In such conditions even the orchestra could have been a bit more powerful.

As such, this work contains a lot of engaging songs and when the soloists are well chosen, the performance can be truly good. This time I had some difficulties to choose my favourites. Aki Alamikkotervo did a delicious job as King Menelaus and his voice suited the role nicely. I also liked the tone of the voice of Kaisa Näreranta (Helen). Some impurities could be found, but they may have caused by the first night jitters. I would really have liked to hear the singing of Eeva Serdijiev, who sang the role of Orestes, but she stressed the words in such a strange way that I had difficulties to understand the text and even sometimes catch the notes. However, as a character she was excellent.

Special thanks will go this time to the dancers Oskari Kymäläinen and Isabella Nevanlinna. They acted as extras, moved the set pieces and at the same time they added a great visual effect by dancing beautifully and expressively. Well done!