THE coaches from Blackpool outside the Empire Theatre last night told their own story.

It was as near a homecoming as the Fylde’s local hero Alfie Boe was going to get, singing the part of Alfredo Germont in the latest Welsh National Opera staging of La Traviata.

I doubt if the Alfie Boe fan club went home disappointed. The legend has it (quite rightly) that he started his life as a motor mechanic, but do not forget that since then he has been through the mill at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio.

Boe and his agents may have promoted him as a crossover singer equally at home in popular music, but he can deliver when it counts on the operatic stage in full measure.

As for the opera itself, the name La Traviata might imply that there is only one main character, Violetta Valery, the lost woman of the translated title.

In truth, though, a triangular relationship lies at the opera’s heart, that between Alfredo and the courtesan Violetta, and also between him and his father Giorgio. Plus, to some degree, that between Giorgio and Violetta.

It all sounds a bit complicated and it is, as the older Germont tries to extract his son from the arms of Violetta.

WNO’s production had three super singers in the main roles: Alfie Boe, plus the Greek soprano Myrto Papatanasiu as Violetta.

She has sung the part several times in Italy, but this was her British debut, and an encouraging one it was too: a tall and willowy figure creating a capricious Violetta.

The South American baritone Dario Solari was Giorgio, again sung with ease and security.

Yet, for all that, I missed that vital spark between the three that could have lifted a good production to the ranks of true excellence. One might ask why WNO decided to ditch its fairly recent 1930s-set Traviata, but there is no doubt that the new version, which first saw the light with Scottish Opera last year, is a visual feast to be treasured.

williamleece