Rumblings about two imminent productions of Handel’s Serse aside, Melbourne is starved of Baroque opera. Its mannered, ornamental style has a devoted if small following, so Victorian Opera has given Claudio Monteverdi’s last opera a good shake to broaden the appeal.

Directed by Sam Strong, this new production of The Coronation of Poppea is a respectful yet very fresh take thanks to Elena Kats-Chernin’s bold orchestration and a setting inspired by 1983 film Scarface.

The first known opera with a factual historical subject premiered in Venice during 1643’s Carnival. It follows Poppea’s rise to become the second wife of Roman Emperor Nero after he divorces his first, Ottavia.

Giovanni Francesco Busenello’s libretto presents Poppea as a seductive schemer who spurns her betrothed, Ottone, and persuades Nero to order the death of his adviser, Seneca. From meddling gods to Ottone-in-drag’s attempted assassination of Poppea by order of Ottavia, there’s much more to the tale.

Samuel Dundas and Meechot Marrero in Victorian Opera’s The Coronation of Poppea. Photo © Jeff Busby

Judiciously trimmed, including of minor characters, it now unfolds across two hours (plus interval) in the suitably passionate, dangerous world of the early 1980s Miami mafia. In contrast, Monteverdi’s music has long needed enhancement as only the vocal and bass lines exist. Kats-Chernin, whose reinvention was commissioned for Barrie Kosky’s 2012 Berlin production, constantly surprises with jazz and Latin rhythms.

Prepared for Victorian Opera’s production by conductor Chad Kelly (who also worked wonders with the company’s 2025 overhaul of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio), this version of Poppea replaces harpsichord with piano and organ. The Victorian Opera Chamber Orchestra also plays everything from saxophone to maracas between more conventional Baroque passages of strings and brass.

The score is stylistically too busy at times but it’s undoubtedly inventive and lively. Together with a restrained approach to vocal ornamentation and recasting two male roles from high to low ranges, the result is a more approachable work.

Meechot Marrero and Samuel Dundas in Victorian Opera’s The Coronation of Poppea. Photo © Jeff Busby

It’s also astonishingly sexy for opera, which so often presents desire with physical timidity or awkwardness. Intimacy Coordinator Amy Cater’s positive influence is never more apparent than in the sensual embraces of Samuel Dundas (Nero) and Meechot Marrero (Poppea).

The introduction of an unspoken love between Seneca and Liberto, who must tell him of Nero’s death sentence, is a great idea executed with moving subtlety by David Greco and Douglas Kelly respectively.

Dundas’s powerful, warm baritone and air of barely checked passions makes him the compelling Al Pacino of this production. Marrero’s bright, supple soprano and confident, sexual presence is a perfect match.

Victorian Opera’s The Coronation of Poppea. Photo © Jeff Busby

Greco is another standout among the 12-strong cast; there’s a magnetic gravitas about his dark, beautifully controlled baritone and stillness. Jeremy Kleeman’s assured, agile bass-baritone helps to anchor Ottone, a character bordering on ridiculous for modern audiences.

His new love, Drusila, is interpreted with sweetness of voice and presence by emerging soprano Rachael Joyce, while tenor Louis Hurley increasingly imbues Poppea’s servant Arnalta with a queer playfulness. Margaret Trubiano brings better focus and power to Ottavia’s sharp expressions of anger in the second act, while Mia Chenea Robinson leads the three goddesses with vocal and dramatic charm.

The Coronation of Poppea opens with this divine trio’s appearance in magical light and glittering metallic confetti. It’s a breathtaking start to a visually delightful production. Presenting the heart of Nero’s mansion, Anna Cordingley’s single set is a deft use of space and brilliant evocation of kitsch neoclassicism.

We see half of a circular foyer lined with statues, beyond which are entrances and gauzily curtained nooks, while a dome rises above in a mass of heavily ruched satin. Lighting Designer Matt Scott enhances this sense of excess (conjured on a small budget) with blue and pink neon strips and vivid monochrome washes of light that transform the set.

Alessia Pintabona, Mia Chenea Robinson and Amelia Wawrzon in Victorian Opera’s The Coronation of Poppea. Photo © Jeff Busby

Cordingley’s costumes also please the eye and support our understanding of time, place and character: Seneca and Nero’s contrasting approach to suits, for example – dark double-breasted versus light jacket over white singlet and bling – and Poppea’s skimpy blush-pink satin looks.

Baroque purists, lovers of later opera and those dabbling in the artform will all likely be very pleasantly surprised by this Coronation of Poppea’s clever, sometimes thrilling mix of old and new. It’s fresh, sexy, gorgeous, loaded with drama (including a neat Scarface-style shock at the end) and has a tragically short season, so get in quick.

Victorian Opera’s The Coronation of Poppea plays at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne, until 4 July.