ENO has to be congratulated upon having staged John Adams' first opera Nixon in China , premiered 1987 in Houston, Texas. It was a very enjoyable experience to see Peter Sellars ' original production now here in London, more than a decade on. Most operas deal with topics from myths or distant history in order to create the necessary aesthetic distance from everyday life.
Opera has to be artificial to be effective.
Adams' repetitive, forward propelling music with rich harmonic layers and rhythmic intensity is the excitement - without irony or intellectual cynicism. Another, similarly grand occasion is the great banquet. Peter Sellars made sure that all singers also acted as credible characters. James Maddalena as Nixon sang and acted the mix of public and private, ambitious persona of the president perfectly. Kelly's singing is wonderful.