Melbourne singer in new “narcissistic” reading of The Rake Punished

A new production of Don Giovanni, alternatively titled The Rake Punished, opening at the Athenaeum on April 26 interprets the title character of the classic opera as a sex offender. CBD-based singer Eddie Muliaumaseali’i is singing in it.

Eddie Muliaumaseali’i and his wife Sarah Sweeting bought a place in Collins St last year.

“From our window we can see across to the Arts Centre and the Gardens, and we can look right down to Degraves St,” the opera singer told CBD News.

“In the major cities that I've lived in, I’ve always stayed close to the theatres, where I don't have to commute.”

“Most major companies, whether it be music halls or opera or even ballet, have their bases in the city and it's just a dream to be able to walk to rehearsal, and when you finish a show to be home within 10 minutes.”

To get to and from the Athenaeum Theatre, where he is currently performing in Melbourne Opera’s Don Giovanni (The Rake Punished), is a two-minute walk.

Playing from April 26 until May 3, the production, directed by Suzanne Chaundy, is a “timely” one, the company says, which views the philandering title character in the same light as contemporary sex offenders like Jeffrey Epstein.

“Justice is coming to Don Giovanni just as it caught up with recent high-profile sex offenders like the former Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, and as many would picture justice coming to other offenders from the Epstein Files,” the director has said.

Her production features “three of Australia’s best sopranos” – Lee Abrahmsen as Donna Anna, Eleanor Greenwood as wife Donna Elvira, and Rebecca Rashleigh as peasant bride Zerlina – who operate as a “powerful and vengeful” trio that brings the “narcissistic” Don Giovanni to justice “on behalf of the many, many women listed in the heinous catalogue of his ‘conquests’”.

Don Giovanni is played by Christopher Tonkin, his servant Leporello by Henry Shaw, Masetto by Stephen Marsh and Don Ottavio by Henry Choo.

Eddie has the important but relatively brief role of the murdered Commendatore “who drags Don Giovanni to the hell that he deserves”.

The current production of the classic opera, which he is appearing in for the sixth time, is “a new take on it” and a very different one, the singer says.

It's interesting to see how the director, music director and designer can “come together with a vision” and “fuse the story to make something new”.

“Suzanne is cooking a nice cake!” he said.

As a bass, Eddie usually got to play the bad guy or some sort of authority figure, he told CBD News.

“The guy with the low voice is either the father, the priest, the devil, the ghost, the baddie or the killer.”

In this case, being killed early on and coming back as a ghost gives him time to have a cup of tea between appearances.

“It's a big opera and one of Mozart's best – I would say his opus – but it’s one of the longest ones,” he said.

The show has an estimated running time of three-and-a-half hours.

But Eddie, born to Samoan parents in Auckland, is not short of stamina, having kicked off a career, initially, in rugby.

“Singing wasn’t my first thing; I just wanted to play rugby,” he said.

The equivalent of playing on the MCG is playing for your state, and I got to do that at the age of 20, and I was the captain of my team.

“But the very next year, my brother, who’d always wanted to be a singer, was auditioning for a professional company, and I went and auditioned with them.

“We both got in, and I've been singing ever since because I love it.”

In 1993 the big bass moved to “Brisvegas” to do an opera course.

Since then, he has been freelancing, with stints as a performer in different parts of the world, including Austria and New York.

Living in Melbourne’s CBD reminds him of the lifestyle in Manhattan, he says, where people also live in the theatre district and enjoy the rich range of food and culture on offer.

While the freelance life can be tough, he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I do really love my job,” he said.
“I’m singing, and it’s a joy!”

And because he has “been around so long”, Melbourne Opera is “like a family”.

Melbourne Opera’s Don Giovanni is playing at the Athenaeum from April 26 to May 3.

Main caption: Eddie Muliaumaseali’i and his wife Sarah Sweeting playing Norse gods in Melbourne Opera’s 2021 production of Wagner’s Das Rhinegold.