Amadigi di Gaula review – inflatables and appoggiaturas as Handel takes a trip to Love Island

Buxton Opera House Olivia Fuchs’ delirious spin on the baroque opera comes with TV trickery, more hearts than a cardiologist convention and absolutely gorgeous singing It’s day seven on “Melissa’s Island”. Melissa is grafting hottie Amadigi but he keeps mugging her off. Amadigi’s head’s been turned by fit bird Oriana, but snakey Dardano is trying to crack on with her too and she’s got the ick. It’s giving toxic relationship energy. The absurdity of Handel’s magic operas can be a headache for directors. But not for Olivia Fuchs, whose Amadigi for Buxton festival takes the composer’s paper-thin four-hander and swaps magic for TV trickery, sorceresses for all-powerful producers, and a set of foolish lovers for the cast of a Love Island-style reality show. Add an inflatable flamingo, a barrage of cameras and more hearts than a cardiologist convention, and you’ve got a staging that keeps you so busy smiling that you barely notice that you’ve, well, caught feelings. With such a small cast, chemistry is everything, and it’s a joy to watch sopranos Hilary Cronin and Rowan Pierce, and countertenors James Hall and (in an impressive jump-in) Tim Morgan, tangling th