Power and passion shine in stark setting Milijana Nikolic as Azucena. Photo by Branco Gaica Source: The Daily Telegraph WHEN you pull a knife on someone, you best make sure you get the job done, especially if the other bloke has a gun. For some reason our troubador Manrico (Arnold Rawls) fails to get his point across, so to speak, when he catches his rival Count di Luna (Michael Honeyman) messing with his lover Leonora (Daria Masiero). By letting the count go, Manrico sets in train a spiral of events which is not going to end well for anyone. Opera Australia's production of Verdi's Il Trovatore is a tapestry of infanticide, love, madness and death. And what a cracking show it is. There is the stark setting, a prison and the bombed streetscape of the Spanish civil war, arias both whimsical and powerful, beautiful choral work from Michael Black, and an orchestra constrained yet uplifted when it needs to be by conductor Arvo Volmer. Where occasionally there are soft spots in the acting, the singing becomes the focus and vice versa. Richard Anderson is consistent as the priest, Masiero and Rawls have their moments and the captivating Honeyman stretches it to full voice. But this Il Trovatore is the sum of many parts, the strongest of which is Milijana Nikolic as the mad gypsy Azucena. Beyond despair at the murder of her mother, she wrings every last drop out of her role. You'd be mad to miss it. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House; until March 5, $44-$297, 9250 7777, sydneyoperahouse.com.au