SIEGFRIED & ROY: the unauthorised opera (Sydney Festival)

By Diana Simmonds

January 11 2025

SIEGFRIED & ROY, THE UNAUTHORISED OPERA, Wharf 1 Sydney Theatre Company, commissioned, produced and presented by Sydney Festival, supported by Opera Australia, 10-25 January 2025. Photography - Neil Bennett

Early in the unbelievable true story of Las Vegas’s most celebrated magic showmen, Roy intones, “A wild animal is always a wild animal. Don’t ever forget that.” Some 75 minutes later, Mantacore, his favourite white tiger, has bitten him and he’s at death’s door. Roy pleads to Siegfried, “Mantacore is a great cat. Make sure no harm comes to Mantacore.”

That night Siegfried ensured no harm befell Mantacore (counter-tenor Russell Harcourt, puppeteers Thomas Remali, and Kirby Myers). He lived to the ripe old tiger age of 17 before succumbing to “a short illness”. Before that, however, in this 90-minute chamber opera by composer Luke Di Somma, libretto by Di Somma, and the show’s director Constantine Costi, the huge and solemn animal is the site of the show’s most human and touching moments.

In truth, the Siegfried & Roy story is as dramatic and lengthy as to rival Aida or even Wagner’s Ring in spectacle, subtext, and sensation. But such are the financial constraints and failures of imagination in opera and arts funding bodies today, it’s a miracle this pocket extravaganza is here at all. As it is, with the Wharf theatre opened up and set out Vegas cabaret style with a bar and tables in front of the bleachers, the mood is set from the start.

And it starts with eight chandeliers, a promenade out from the arched and fairy-lit proscenium, twinkly lights and more twinkly lights, a crack orchestra (conducted by Di Somma) hidden behind lush drapes, and very little else to impede the flow (set design: Pip Runciman, lighting: Damien Cooper). A multiplicity of costumes (Tim Chappel) are all one might hope of Las Vegas of that era when the mullet was the go and there was no such thing as too many sequins or too much bling.

Although there is much to chuckle at and an exuberant sense of fun is pervasive, the darker side is never far away. No wonder they took so eagerly to the colour and excess of The Mirage – their home on the Vegas strip. These two men began life in the privations of post-war Bavaria with brutal fathers, lederhosen, and oompa-pa-pa for inspiration. We see Roy’s early attempts at magic tricks and the transformation once he hooks up with the entrepreneurial Siegfried. From the lower decks of the SS Bremen to a royal command performance for Princess Grace and Rainier in Monaco, their rise was inexorable.

As the magic improved we watched them progress from rabbits in hats to white lions and tigers. And an eye-popping turn from Cathy-Di Zhang as Nancy who maintains the soprano voice that’s made her an Opera Australia favourite even while being sawn in half! It’s to the great credit of the entire production team and cast that within its limits, it’s possible to see how Siegfried & Roy transformed entertainment in Las Vegas. That they performed some 30,000 shows to 50 million punters and raked in more than $1 billion in ticket sales is simply not surprising.

Also not surprising are the performances, led by Kanen Breen (Roy), whose chameleon-like versatility as an actor and fearless tenor is beautifully partnered by the burnished baritone and alpha presence of Christopher Tonkin (Siegfried), They are strongly supported by Di Zhang and Harcourt, and with comical arrogance from baritone Simon Lobelson as hubristic agent Reggy Reggiano. Representing the R-rated side of gay life in pre-AIDS Vegas, Louis Hurley is glam and avariciously ambitious as one of Roy’s – ahem – proteges. While Danielle Bavli pops in and up as Princess Grace, and the hilariously named socialite Tabby Chateaubriand – surely inspired by Jocelyn Wildenstein, and what was it with the big cats?

Musically the lovingly crafted pastiches begin with a tongue-in-cheek reference to the lumpen earnestness of Bavarian volk and their favourite Schuhplattler. On through to the deceptive flippancy of Berlin cabaret/Cabaret and on again into the brassy orchestral big bands so loved by the big showrooms. It’s not Wagner, it’s not John Kander and it’s not Nelson Riddle but it is compelling and persuasively sung through by a company whose work with Constantine Costi means confidence, and bravura performances all round. Bravo, all.