TIGHTEN YOUR SEATBELT for a long ride of ribaldry and burlesque, beauty and disappointment with good and bad angels on the shoulders of our protagonist. This is what you can expected in Met Opera’s impeccable Tales of Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) which graces our Cinema Nouveau film theatres in South Africa tomorrow only.

It’s a monster of a work that, with excellent interviews during the two intervals, will take up just over four hours of your time, but one that will plummet you into the whirligig of Hoffmann’s desire to find true love in the 19^th century world. Will it be the robot girl Olympia? Perhaps the singer, Antonia? What about the courtesan, Giuletta? Or perhaps that love is hiding all the time in plain sight?

Beautifully cast, and magnificently costumed, and featuring quirks with eyes on umbrellas, Black Plague-redolent masks and a sea conjured succinctly by fabric, the work speaks of surreal fantasies and vaudeville at its most playful. It is created with perfect co-ordination and timing, from the moment where dwarves are mocked, to the appearance of a giant toy snake in the set and beyond. Unequivocally, however, the star of the work is Pretty Yende, in her role as Antonia, in part two. Indeed, this part of the tale, is so finely developed and premised that it could stand its own ground as a complete story of love, ghosts, dreams and tragic death, all caressed into one reflection on what it means to be a woman with talent in a world where marriage would determine you.

Yende perfectly captures that understanding of torsion between the internal imperatives of her own musical gift, strict instructions from her father not to use it, dire warnings from the devil, in the shape of Dr Miracle (Christian van Horn) and the words and voice of her late mother, as well as her desire to fit the bourgeois expectations of being the wife to Hoffmann (Benjamin Bernheim), as he loves her because she is beautiful.

But then, there is the magnificent Erin Morley in the comic role of Olympia, the robot doll from part one. While her representation of this character cannot possibly have depth, it is the difficulty of being a robot who can sing and dance and run out of steam while being able to do perfect trills and reach unbelievable heights in her voice, that grasp you by the wow factor.

Bernheim captures the character of Hoffmann with just the right dollops of dignity and folly; Russian mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya is his side-kick and muse who goes in the guise of a student to protect Hoffmann’s integrity, is simply delightful. As is Aaron Blake as the comical and inept servant in each of the four unfolding stories.

This is opera at its best. The experience is unapologetic and uncensored, given the notoriously short attention span of contemporary audiences. If you know what opera is, and how it should take up as much time as it deserves, prepare yourself for a total treat, for the ears, eyes and soul. It will replenish you, even if you are not familiar with the work, or the medium of opera.

• Les Contes d’Hoffmann was composed by Jacques Offenbach to libretti by Jules Barbier, based on three stories by ETA Hoffmann. It premiered in 1881. Directed for the Metropolitan Opera in New York by Gary Halvorson with stage direction by Gina Lapinski, it features design by Bartlett Sher (production); Michael Yeargan (set); Catherine Zuber (costumes); Dou Dou Huang (choreography); and James F. Ingalls (lighting). Conducted by Marco Armiliato, it is performed by a cast headlined by Benjamin Bernheim, Aaron Blake, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Clémentine Margaine, Erin Morley, Christian van Horn and Pretty Yende and it is hosted by Ben Bliss. It is being screened by Met Opera live at selected Art Nouveau movie theatres in South Africa, on Tuesday 22 October 2024.