Review: Turandot at the Sydney Opera House

Review by Kate Gaul

Opera Australia’s new production of Turandot arrives with the kind of visual ambition and vocal firepower audiences hope for from Puccini’s final, extravagant opera - and, while not without its inconsistencies, ultimately delivers a stirring, often thrilling theatrical experience.

Most notably, this staging marks a welcome addition to Opera Australia’s roster of directors, with Ann Yee bringing a fresh, choreographic intelligence to the work. Yee’s background in movement and visual storytelling lends the production a fluidity and symbolic resonance that elevates many of the opera’s most familiar moments. Rather than relying solely on grand spectacle, she finds ways to embody the emotional architecture of the story through physical language - an approach that feels contemporary, thoughtful and often deeply poetic.

This is most striking in the production’s opening image. As the curtain rises in silence on featured dancer Hoyori Maruo, the atmosphere immediately shifts into something more abstract and mythic. Maruo’s movement threads the emotional and narrative spine of the work, offering a powerful, wordless counterpoint to Puccini’s score. It is a contribution that not only enriches the storytelling but reframes Turandot as a psychological and symbolic journey rather than simply a lavish fairy tale - and one of the production’s most inspired choices.

Vocally, the evening is anchored by a truly outstanding Calaf in Young Woo Kim. Possessing extraordinary volume, clarity and presence, Kim’s tenor cuts through Puccini’s dense orchestration with gold-plated brilliance. His performance combines heroic power with emotional nuance, making Calaf’s determination feel both thrilling and human.

Rebecca Nash meets him with formidable strength as Turandot, bringing steely authority and dramatic intensity to the icy princess. Great to see her back with Opera Australia! Their duets crackle with tension and heat, alive with both vocal force and theatrical chemistry. Together they form the dramatic engine of the production.

The supporting trio of Ping, Pang and Pong are strongly sung and energetically performed - Simon Meadows ably covering Ping on the night attended, alongside the ever-divine Michael Petruccelli as Pang and the reliably expressive John Longmuir as Pong. Vocally and individually they impress, though the conception of their characters and the staging of their extended scene proves one of the production’s weaker elements. The tonal shift here feels awkwardly handled, and the scenic setting momentarily disrupts the opera’s dramatic momentum.

Visually, the production benefits greatly from Hannah Gadsby’s intelligent set design, making clever use of a revolve and a moving central piece, framed by walls that become canvases for Andre Thomas Huang’s beautiful projected imagery. Genuinely, this collaboration works - the projections deepening atmosphere and emotional texture without overwhelming the performers. It is a sophisticated visual language that supports Yee’s abstract impulses while retaining narrative clarity.

Costumes by David Fleischer, however, are more of a mixed bag. Some designs effectively echo the production’s mythic grandeur, while others feel conspicuously “make do” - a reminder of the financial realities facing large-scale opera in Australia today.

One of the production’s great pleasures is the children’s chorus - always a treat in opera - who bring freshness, brightness and emotional resonance to the stage. While functioning beautifully as a unified ensemble, it is delightful to see flashes of individuality shine through, lending humanity and warmth to the larger spectacle.

The Opera Australia adult chorus, too, is outstanding. From the opening scenes to the opera’s monumental climaxes, they perform with power, precision and emotional depth, creating a living, breathing world around the principal characters and grounding the drama in communal urgency.

Overall, this Turandot may be uneven in places, but its strengths are considerable. Ann Yee’s fresh choreographic vision signals an exciting evolution in Opera Australia’s directorial landscape, while the vocal performances - particularly Young Woo Kim’s exceptional Calaf - offer moments of genuine operatic exhilaration. With its bold abstraction, stirring musicality and flashes of visual poetry, this production reminds us that even in constrained times, opera can still aim high, take risks and, more often than not, soar.

Image Supplied