Primi Divi

English Touring Opera at the Royal College of Music

Handel and the Premier League are 2 of my favourite things in the world but that doesn’t mean they go together. Jonathan Peter Kenny conducted ETO’s Flavio (which Barry reviewed) and he also sang Polinesso Ariodante (which I’m reviewing) as well as covering Tolomeo. Then he also wrote this article for the programme called Handel and the Premier League where he compares them.

When I saw the article for the first time I was a bit like wtf? But it’s a really good article. It explains how Handel set up this really elite opera company called the Royal Academy and how they wanted to get like the very best international stars there. The opera stars were paid a really disgusting amount of money. It wasn’t a hundred thousand pounds a week but it probably felt like it. Then there were loads of like rival opera groups in London as well and they were all like competing with each other, trying to get the top stars. And the public all had their favourite companies who they went to see the most often and they wanted them to do better than the other companies and get more stars in. But then some of the singers got all unsettled. Handel had all these millions of stars each with their own special skills they wanted to show off. They were really fussy about what role they played. So sometimes they weren’t very happy with Handel and then some other opera company came along and offered them more money so they decided to go and sing for them instead. I bet Emmanuel Adebayor knows just where they’re coming from.

When you think about it it’s not that much different from the Premier League is it? And by the way a lot of football chants are based on opera.

There were a few bits of the article I didn’t like though. Comparing people connected to Handel’s company with modern day footballers is a nice idea but it’s not always going to work because not all of ETO’s audience will be football fans. Most people know who David Beckham is but they probably won’t know Nicolas Anelka and Carlos Tevez. Oh and while I’m on the subject of Becks he so shouldn’t have been Man of the Match in the last England match, he’d only been on the pitch five seconds. I don’t want him in the England squad either, he’s old and he’s overrated and he seriously needs to lose the beard. But then if you do pick a famous footballer to compare with an opera singer that doesn’t work either because there are going to be people in the audience who hate them. I mean, comparing Farinelli to Chavski’s (that’s Chelsea) Didier Drogba is a bit of an insult really and not the sort of thing an Arsenal-supporting Handel fan likes to read about. But I did quite like the idea of someone explaining to Drogba what a castrato is. Actually can I tell him?

The worst part was when the article said Alex Ferguson is like the modern day equivalent of Handel. I mean how could anyone even think about them in the same sentence? Not even Hairy likes Alex Ferguson, that should tell you something.

But anyway back to the performance. It wasn’t bad but ETO’s Flavio and Alcina were so brilliant I did end up getting quite disappointed with this one. It started badly when the characters started walking onto the stage during the overture. There’s just no need for it. Sometimes it works but usually it just looks stupid and fake and it takes your attention away from the orchestra. And some of the performers started dancing and clapping. They did a good job of it but it really pissed me off. I wanted to listen to the overture and all the old instruments. I’ve got the whole rest of the opera to look at the singers, the overture should be the orchestra’s moment.

I don’t know much about the costumes but it looked really modern. Dalinda confused me, she was wearing her hair up and a grey suit, I thought she was a bloke at first till I saw she was wearing a skirt. Her outfit was probably right as she’s Ginevra’s companion but at least show some cleavage woman. If you’re in an opera with trouser roles you need to make the girls look extra girly and hot. And no that’s not the only reason why I like Handel but it does help.

Anne Marie Gibbons was Ariodante, she was an ENO Young Singer and I heard her singing just about everything from Mozart to that new bloke who wrote Satyagraha. She did a pretty good job at most styles too but I think Verdi and G&S are her best composers. I’m not sure Handel is quite her thing. Her voice sounded fine but Ariodante seemed a bit high for her and I’m not sure she’s really happy with all that coloratura stuff. When she had lyrical stuff to sing she sounded great though and she did a good job of all the emotional stuff, she seemed really affected by all the s*** that was going on but she never let you forget she was a bloke. She was really good at all the blokey stuff actually even though she had her hair in a scrunchie.

Rachel Nicholls wasn’t great as Ginevra, well she looked great and everything and her singing was good but her voice seemed a bit big for Handel, for Ginevra anyway. But maybe they just wanted a bit more contrast with Dalinda who was a proper soubrette type. Katherine Manley was good vocally as Dalinda, ideal for light Handel roles and she’d do a good job with light Mozart too I think. Only thing was though I thought Dalinda was supposed to be like all silly and girly but she seemed quite serious from the start, maybe that was her clothes and her hair, she looked like a businesswoman. That or a bloke.

Jonathan Peter Kenny who wrote the article played Polinesso. In the first act I couldn’t really hear him over the orchestra. I can’t say his falsetto didn’t seem very strong because counter tenors don’t sing falsetto so I’ll say his larynx didn’t seem to tilt strongly. Later on though as you worked out what a total w****r he was his voice got bigger.

Andrew Slater and Nathan Vale had smaller roles, Ginevra’s dad Donald and Ariodante’s brother Lurcano. Nathan did a good job as Lurcano, one thing Handel did wrong is not writing more important tenor roles, there are loads of tenors around who do them really well. Handel basses tend not to be as good though, most basses have really big voices and they can’t get round all those little notes. Andrew Slater had a bit of trouble like that but maybe he was just he was just having an off day, he was fine when he was in Flavio.

FitCrit

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

English Touring Opera at the Royal College of Music

English Touring Opera have, quite rightly, acquired an excellent reputation for their productions of Handel operas. Following highly successful and extremely enjoyable productions of Alcina and Tolomeo, it was difficult not to have perhaps unreasonably high expectations where Flavio was concerned. It is to the credit of English Touring Opera, their production staff and, of course, the performers, that Flavio proved an even greater delight than I’d anticipated.

My only regret, indeed, is that I wasn’t able to attend any of the other operas in ETO’s Handel series. With two performances of Flavio, and one each of Alcina, Ariodante, Teseo and Tolomeo, those who were fortunate enough to be able to see all five must, I suspect, have had an electrifying fortnight. In fact, I would urge all those based in the London area who didn’t see all five to consider attending one or more if the operas when the company visits Cambridge next month.

The conductor at this performance was the counter tenor Jonathan Peter Kenny, who also performed the role of Polinesso in Ariodante (which I believe Fit Crit will be reviewing), additionally covering the role of Tolomeo. Indeed, many of the performers who feature in the Handelfest have been required to become familiar with more than one role. Many, if not most, of the performers, are, in fact, performing two roles and acting as the understudy to a third. Not only this, but, at all other venues, all the operas are to be performed within the space of five days. It’s most unusual for a performer to give three performance even of a single role in five days, so this demonstrates the level of English Touring Opera’s ambition. Perhaps there were limits to the number of singers they could use for budgetary reasons, but this series of five operas must be nevertheless a considerable achievement, even if the other productions have only a fraction of Flavio’s brilliance.

Mr Kenny gave a sensitive reading of the score, no doubt supplemented by his experience as a singer of many of Handel’s greatest counter tenor roles. His interpretation displayed great sensitivity, supporting both the plot’s humour and its moments of tragedy. The ETO orchestra created a authentically Handelian atmosphere, and, within the intimacy of the Royal College of Music’s theatre, it was an exciting and involving evening.

Joanna Parker’s sets were simple, but, as so often, deeply effective, complementing the performance, without drawing attention away from the drama. James Conway’s direction was, again, quite brilliant – and, something that amazed me in particular, extremely alert to all possible humour. The story is a serious one, yet Mr Conway gave it a lightness of touch that was absolutely riveting. Handel’s operas are not usually known for their brevity – and, indeed, I am usually rather disappointed when a Handel opera comes to an end, and I do not mind in the least that one can sometimes be in the auditorium for five hours. Yet, with the arias’ being several minutes long, there is often a sense that the action is moving at a relatively slow pace. This did not happen in Mr Conway’s production. There was always something happening, be it something taking place in the stage (which can be a distraction, but was, in this case, always appropriate) or a change in the emotional state of the character.

Flavio opens with a duet between two characters, the male character’s line of music being set higher than that of the female. Mezzo-sopranos Angelica Voje (Vitige) and Carolyn Dobbin (Teodata) were instantly engaging, a far less histrionic couple than many to be seen on an operatic stage. Miss Dobbin’s performance was particularly fine. Her rich contralto-type voice was very beautiful, and each of her arias were sung with great feeling and charm. Flavio’s pursuit of her, whilst not strictly gentlemanly in its execution, was far from unsurprising. Clint van der Linde was powerful and regal in the title role.

Yet there was never any doubt about which of the gentlemen Teodata should chioose at the end of the opera. Miss Voje’s vocal timbre was closer to that of the typical soprano than the typical mezzo, but the strength of her dramatic performance ensured that she was completely convincing as a male character. Miss Voje’s inrepretation gave a strong impression of strength, bravery and chivalry towards Teodata.

The more serious couple were Emilia and Guido, married at the start of the opera, only for him to become the murderer of her father. Counter tenor James Laing gave an astounding performance as Guido. He seemed very much a victim of manipulation and his own undiscerning loyalty towards his father. Mr Laing ensured Guido was one of the most likeable characters in the opera. His arias, sung in an exceptionally lovely counter tenor voice, were deeply moving, and I felt his dilemmas deeply throughout the opera.

Emilia was sung by Paula Sides, who recently sang Pamina for English Touring Opera. Her singing was truly lovely, her arias full of emotion and with a great sensitivity towards the nuances of the text. Emilia’s character did not seem as well developed as that of the others, but I do feel this is due to the libretto rather than any deficiency in Miss Sides’ performance.

Andrew Slater and Joseph Cornwell sang the roles of Loratio and Ugone, the two rival counsellors vying for the favour of the king, and, respectively, the fathers of Emilia and Teodata. They offered performance at once repellent and riveting, producing both comedy and horror as the quite marvellous performance progressed.

Music Theatre Wales at the Linbury Studio

In some ways, Letters from a Love Betrayed reminded me of a sort of reverse whodunit. It is certainly not a whodunit in a conventional sense – although someone is murdered, there is never any doubt who did it. I won’t go into details of how I came to compare the two – I don’t want to give the story away.

But my point is, when you read a whodunit, you’re often going to be sitting there trying to work out for yourself who done it, looking at all the possible suspects, as well as looking at other characters in the story who so far haven’t come under suspicion. It can be very annoying if the identity of the murderer is too obvious, but it is probably a million times more annoying when the murderer turns out to be someone who has barely featured in the story, or, worse still, not featured at all.

And this is, for me, one of the big problems with Letters from a Love Betrayed. Something is revealed to the central character, Analia, near the end. We see her as she makes the realisation, but we don’t have the knowledge to make the same connection ourselves. It’s a fascinating twist, and in many ways a rather good one, but it does come completely out of nowhere, and I personally would have found it more satisfying if there were more clues. At the very least, in a story like this, we should be able to look back and think: “Oh, of course!” when the secret is finally revealed to us. But to me, it came so completely out of the blue, it was a bit of a let down.

To be fair to librettist Donald Sturrock, this part of the story probably wasn’t very easy to bring to the stage. It might have been easier to pick up on the clues in Isabel Allende’s original short story. But I do feel that there was probably more Sturroc, director Michael NcCarthy or designers Colin Richmond and Holly McCarthy could have done to set up the revelation. But maybe they didn’t want to. Maybe they wanted to preserve the element of surprise at the end – and they certainly succeeded, if this was their aim. A great twist, but ultimately an unsatisfying one for me.

Mary Plazas sang the central role of Analia. It was an ideal role for her. She is exceptionally good playing at the innocent characters. She gives them all real charm and vulnerability, but each character is so carefully drawn, each so distinct from the other, it’s certainly not a case of her playing the ‘same’ role again and again. (Besides, as her Nedda for ENO showed, she can do raunchy very well too.) Plazas’ Analia was tragic, innocent, maybe a bit stupid, but her sweet, dreamy nature was appealing and I really wanted a happy ending for her. Her singing, as always, was lovely.

Christopher Steele played her husband Luis, the man who won her love with the letters he sent to her, only, as the title suggests, to betray her, repeatedly and humiliatingly. Steele didn’t manage to turn Luis into a truly sympathetic character – although it was sad that he had no idea what a lovely, caring devoted wife he had – but it was a fantastic portrayal of nastiness and cruelty. A huge contrast to when I sang Haydn’s Creation with him.

Hairy McMungo, naturally, was very impressed by the Scottish mezzo-soprano Arlene Rolph – and I have to say I completely agree with him. She played two roles, the Mother Superior and the Slutty Gloria, two such vivid portrayals that I was genuinely surprised to hear they were played by the same singer. There were differences not only in the appearance of the characters, but also the movement, even the voice sounded different. Gloria was quite an odd character, apparently a tart with a heart, who could change from seductive to horrified within a matter of seconds. The changes were sudden – but that was how the libretto was written. Rolph certainly played the two halfs of Gloria’s character with conviction.

Also in the cast were Jonathan May and Paul Kenhone, both thuggish in the roles of Analia’s bullying uncle Eugenio Torres, and Richard Edgar-Wilson offered a nice cameo in his brief appearance of Analia’s son’s teacher.

The libretto… well, it wasn’t exactly Da Ponte. The schoolroom duet was nicely done, but elsewhere the rhymes verged on the embarrassing. For once, the muddy diction was something of a relief. Eleanor Alberga’s music, conducted by Michael Rafferty, was atmospheric throughout, if not stunningly brilliant, and the South American setting of the story was very clear. Colin Richmond and Holly McCarthy’s designs were minimal – looking at them, the story could have been set pretty much anywhere. But perhaps that’s part of the point. The social situation of Analia’s needing to marry in order to go out into the world could not exist in Britain. But the betrayal, the bullying, the feeling of being trapped, perhaps that could happen anywhere.

It’s not a great opera. Far from it. But I am glad I saw it.

Cunning Little Vixen

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican

This concert, was one, of many concerts, in a cycle, in celebration, of the composer, Martinu. My reasons, for attendance, were, however, not the composer in celebration, nor the BBC Symphony Orchestra, tellingly talented, as they are, not even, the conductor, that greatest of maestros, Jiri Belohlavek, but the soloist, the greatly, magnificent, Gerald Finley. This singer, of such splendid sumptuosity, has always been, one of my most extreme, favourites, and it is always, a delight, to be, in his thrilling presence.

The concert, opened, however, not with Gerald, but with a performance, of Mozart’s Symphony, Number 29, in A major. K201. Mozart, is a composer, of ingenuity, so therefore, the performance of tragic, flatness, can be blamed, only, at the door of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Mozart, is a composer, of joyous delights, but, such delights, were unforthcoming, in this performance, of horrific dryness.

The Martinu Symphony, Number 1, too, was a work of disappointment, of many excitements, it is true, but none such, to touch my heart, although, the virtuosity, is, of course, to be admired, it lacked, a certain, moving intensity.

The remainder, of the performance, focused, on Gerald Finley, singing, first, a selection of deep intelligence, from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Gerald, shades, each very note, with the most irridessant, of colours, he invests, each story, with such powerful meaning, and sparkling beauteousness. Whether he sings, of the most melancholic, of sadness, whether he imitates, an animal, even one so unmusical, as a donkey, whether he is telling, with such charming, wittiness, a story, the resulting performance, is one of sensitivity, sweetness, humour, and, of course, great musicality.

The Songs and Dances of Death, held, still less cheer, but, when sheer masculine virility, is the object, this, too, Gerald can provide. They demand, one would have thought, a voice of the deadliest darkness, of sombre shadows, of murky malignancy. And Gerald, is able, with the depths of his musicianship, to add a quality, of luxuriance, to his voice, but the brilliance, of his vocal darkness, came not from the sound, so much, but from the sublimity, of the interpretation, the expressional emotivity. Gerald was uniformly terrifying, yet exclusively captivating. The memory, of his performance, is one to treasure, always.

Violetta

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

Bampton Classical Opera at St John’s Smith Square

This is an opera I don’t know anything about at all but even Barry hadn’t heard it before. You might even say I know the opera just as well as the others do. But I’m sure they picked up on a few things I didn’t.

It’s by Haydn and the title means The Fishergirls. The fishergirls are two friends, Nerina and Lesbina (poor girl). They hear that a prince is coming to the neighbourhood looking for his bride, a princess who is now living as a fishergirl. Nerina and Lesbina both have boyfriends, who happen to be each other’s brothers. But they’re only fishergirls, and they quite like the idea of being princesses.

The story was a bit La Cenerentola meets Cosi Fan Tutte. Might not have noticed this myself but in the first half there was a sign at the side of the stage advertising a performance of La Cenerentola. In the second half it advertised Cosi Fan Tutte. I think La Pescatrici isn’t quite as good as these two operas, but Schubert composed some really lovely music for it, and there was a good performance from every member of the cast. But for me, Cinderella is a nice person, and even though Fiordiligi and Dorabella are a bit silly, you do quite like them. But I didn’t really like the main characters in this opera.

Lesbina and Nerina just seemed a bit bratty, although Emily Rowley-Jones and Serena Kay both sang very well, and they were both really funny. I’m a bit jealous of Serena Kay, who managed to look so convincing as a character who is early twenties at the oldest, probably late teens. Emily Rowley-Jones probably is early twenties, although sometimes she reminded me of my three year old. Their characters were quite alike, but this made it funnier, as they both thought they were better than each other. Loved the ending where they both pushed other singers aside in order to take their curtain call, it really livened things up. Hope they were only acting!

Lina Markeby who played another fishergirl, Eurilda, was a lot nicer and easier to identify with. She had a lower, heavier voice than the other two, but it was a very gentle sound, I really liked it. It was a smaller role, she didn’t have a lot to do really, and it wasn’t really a funny role, but she was lovely.

The boyfriends, Burlotto and Friselino seemed quite similar, but Andrew Friedhoff and Mark Chaundy worked together well and Vojtech Safarik was a very noble prince. His English was good too. You often see people singing in foreign languages but you don’t seem to see many people singing in English when it’s their foreign language.

The male singer who made the biggest impression for me was Robert Winslade Anderson as the elderly fisherman who brought Eurilda up. He had a lovely deep bass voice and lots of stage presence.

The opera was translated into English by Gilly French and Jeremy Gray. Can’t say I understood all of it, the others said that St John’s is a very echoey hall, and if you sit in the wrong place you could end up not hearing much at all. But I did hear most of it, and the translation was very funny with some clever rhymes. Can’t think of any just now, but it was great. Jeremy Gray was also the director, the action was on a small strip at the very front of the stage, but the singers seemed to have plenty of space, it never seemed even a little bit cramped. Alice Farnham was the conductor, the opera had some really lovely tunes which were beautifully played by the London Mozart Players.

Bampton Classical Opera are a small company who don’t often visit London but they are well worth seeing, especially if you want to see something you’ve never even heard of. Really looking forward to seeing them again next year.

Royal Opera House

Slushy bel canto isn’t usually my thing and in lots of ways Linda di Chamounix was just like the others. Two lovers, they get separated, girl goes mad. Nothing I hadn’t seen before.

But there was this one scene in the middle that made it different. Most of Donizetti’s women are a bit pathetic and goody-goody and Linda is too, she stays a virgin for years. But this scene in the middle was like something out of Donizetti’s comedies. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like it, with comedy and tragedy mixed, not like this I mean. So not a great opera and in a way it would be better if Donizetti hadn’t written Lucia di Lammermoor and Anna Bolena and good stuff like that because Linda isn’t as good as them so it’s hard not to see it and think, you can do better than this Gaetano mate. But it’s not a bad opera at all and how many operas don’t have massive plot holes? And I mean the plot isn’t Donizetti’s fault. Maybe even the music wasn’t Donizetti’s fault, he can only write what the libretto inspires him to write can’t he? Actually the music wasn’t that bad, neither was Mark Elder’s conducting.

Eglise Gutierrez was Linda, I’d never heard of her and a lot of the critics were a bit mean about her. And her voice wasn’t anything special, actually it was a little bit odd, with a big full sound in the lower half of her range and a very thin almost soubrette sort of thing at the top. But it was just such a really good performance. It was a concert performance, she was singing from a score and she was wearing this dress that just looked so wrong for someone who was supposed to be poor like Linda. But she was so much into the character you just forgot all that as soon as she started singing. You forgot it wasn’t staged, you actually forgot she wasn’t the most amazing singer in the world. Actually her singing kind of helped with the character, it just helped you to see Linda as someone who was really struggling through life. A totally perfect performance wouldn’t have worked as well I don’t think.

Marianna Pizzolato sang Pierotto which was a trouser role, she was the best singer there. Everything she sang sounded great, her voice was really big but the tone was in the counter tenor sort of direction so I had no trouble thinking like, that’s a bloke. Stephen Costello also did a good job as Carlo, Linda’s bloke. Not one of those big star tenors but he’s actually better than most of them. Ludivic Tezier as Linda’s father Loustalot and Balint Szabo as the prefect were good, apparently he’s a clergyman type so probably not one of those bossy twat school prefects, they asked me to be one of those last year but I didn’t fancy it. Luciano Botelho was the Intendant, I thought he was one of the Young Artists but he’s not. Never mind though, you can still watch out for him, he’s going to sing at Glyndebourne soon.

Alessandro Corbelli was brilliant too, he was the Marquis of Boisfleury, this old guy who tries to chat up Linda. His scene was actually a bit weird. The rest of the opera was proper serious stuff all the way through but then right in the middle you got this really funny bit and it was so good, my favourite bit in the opera actually. Eglise was funny too. What happens it the Marquis puts the moves on Linda and she’s just not having any of it, then she manages to scare him off. She’s a goody-goody and she goes a bit over the top sometimes but seriously, this girl is no pushover.

FitCrit

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

British Youth Opera at the Peacock Theatre

It’s not often now we get to see an opera none of us have seen before. Particularly not four in the space of two weeks. But this is exactly how the new opera season began, and British Youth Opera started it off by offering a double bill of two short comedies by Rossini, Il Signor Bruschino and La scala di seta.

Il Signor Bruschino tells the story of Florville, who arrives at the house of Sofia, the girl he loves. He is told that Sofia is to marry a man named Bruschino, whom no-one in the household has ever met, and who is due to arrive shortly. Fortunately for Florville, Bruschino has been locked in an attic, and is unable to make this planned appearance. So Florville decides to pretend to be Bruschino, in the hope that he might fool everyone long enough to get to marry Sofia.

The plot had great promise, but was rather disappointing in practice. Despite being such a short work, there just didn’t seem enough plot somehow to fill the opera, and few of the characters came over really strongly. Thomas Herford sang Florville’s challenging arias with beauty and dexterity, and there was certainly something likeable about him. But he had very little personality, and I do feel that was much more to do with the opera than with Herford. Florville lacked Count Almaviva’s ability to think on his feet (which the Count can do even without Figaro’s help but he wasn’t one of those pathetic yet very likeable heroes who need to be looked after, either

Elena Sancho seemed to have similar trouble with the role of Sofia. She, too, had some very showy arias, typical of Rossini, and these were despatched easily, if not quite with aplomb. But there’s very little for Sofia to do. She mostly seems quite meek and mild, and ready to let others take care of her – not like Rossini’s Rosina, Isabella or even Cenerentola.

But then towards the end Sofia inexplicably starts being very cruel to Bruschino’s father. Thomas Kennedy played him as quite annoying, but with his limp and his injured foot he also seemed quite a vulnerable character. But even if he hadn’t been, there was no call for Sofia to behave towards him as she did, teasing him unkindly and tricking him in ways that made him hurt his injured foot. Maybe Bruschino padre is a bit of a hypochondriac, but, on this evidence, Sofia is a bit of a psychopath. It was probably supposed to be funny, but there’s nothing funny about bullying an invalid. And Bruschino padre really isn’t that bad a person.

The humour in the work came from just three characters. Eliot Alderman was great as the Commissario (Sofia’s father), his performance full of small humorous details that were actually much funnier than the more obvious and sometimes crude humour in the rest of the opera. The Commissario is one of the villains of the piece, keeping Sofia and Florville apart by trying to marry her off to someone else, but, like Rossini’s Bartolo, he’s not really someone you dislike, despite the fact you’re emphatically not on his side. And whilst Adam Kowalczyk only appeared briefly as the real Bruschino flglio, he certainly made a big impression, as well as making you feel that locking him in the attic wasn’t an entirely bad move.

There were also excellent performances from Benjamin Cahn as the servant Filberto, an energetic Figaro type, and the wonderful Adriana Festeu in the small role of Sofia’s servant Marianna. Marianna has very little to sing, yet she was onstage for much of the opera, adding so much to the comedy with just a gesture or a facial expression. Her singing was great too – she sounds like a contralto, and there aren’t enough of those.

La scala di seta had a weaker story, but director Jamie Hayes, far from trying to disguise this, attempted to make the story even sillier. The result was a very enjoyable and extremely funny comedy that kept the audience entertained throughout.

Natalya Romaniw, who represented Wales in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition this year, sang the role of Giulia. Like Sofia in the previous opera, she is about to become the victim of an arranged marriage. However, Giulia is already secretly married to Dorvil, and he visits her nightly by climbing up a silken ladder to Giulia’s bedroom window.

Romaniw is still a young singer, not fully in control yet of her amazing voice, and inclined to sound under pressure at times. But it is a lovely voice, and she clearly loves being onstage. She spends a lot of the opera running about all over the stage, which she does with great energy, and she really is excellent at the comedy. It’s only a shame that there are relatively few comedy roles for singers with her type of voice, or at least few that come immediately to mind.

Understudy Peter Brathwaite, replacing the indisposed Gary Griffiths as Germano, also gave an assured performance. It was difficult to imagine how Griffiths, or indeed anyone else, could have performed the role better. Eliot Alderman again took the role of the heroine’s father – his Dormont was not less amusing yet very different from his Commissario in Il signor Bruschino – both, incidentally, were a great contrast with his Gremin Eugene Onegin for the same company a few years ago. Hanna Hipp (Lucilla) and Aaron Alphonsus McAuley (I’ve been told to mention that he’s Scottish) as Blansac completed a very strong cast – every single one of them was a joy to watch.

Robert Dean conducted both operas – the music probably wasn’t on the level of Rossini’s better-known operas in terms of its inventiveness, but the music in both was a lot of fun.

Cunning Little Vixen

primi-divi@hotmail.co.uk

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BEST CONCERT/SEMI-STAGED PERFORMANCE
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Sarah Connolly as Dido Dido and Aeneas (ENO)
Joyce DiDonato as Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia (ROH)
Akiya Henry as Varjak Varjak Paw (The Opera Group at the Linbury Studio, ROH)
Yvonne Howard as Norma Norma (English Touring Opera at Cadogan Hall)
Elizabeth Watts as Susanna Le nozze di Figaro (WNO)

BEST MALE SINGER IN A LEADING ROLE
Stephen Anthony Brown as Pinkerton Madama Butterfly (Surrey Opera)
Geraint Dodd as Canio Pagliacci (ENO)
Robert Murray as Tamino The Magic Flute (ENO)
Andrew Radley as Refugee Flight (British Youth Opera)
Peter Rose as Boris Boris Godunov (ENO)

BEST FEMALE SINGER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sophie Bevan as Despina Cosi fan tutte (ENO)
Alinka Kozari as Sally Bones/Pernisha Scratch Varjak Paw (The Opera Group at Linbury Studio, ROH)
Verity Parker as Naneta Falstaff (Pimlico Opera at Cadogan Hall)
Christine Rice as Arsace Partenope (ENO)
Kate Valentine as Cathleen Riders to the Sea (ENO)

BEST MALE SINGER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Iestyn Davies as Armindo Partenope (ENO)
Tim Baldwin as Sharpless Madama Butterfly (Surrey Opera)
Eric Halfvarson as Commendatore Don Giovanni (ROH)
Robert Lloyd as Sarastro The Magic Flute (ENO)
Adrian Powter as Rocco Leonora (Bampton Classical Opera at St John’s Smith Square)

BEST YOUNG FEMALE SINGER
Sophie Bevan
Emma Carrington
Anna Grevelius
Ana James
Verity Parker

BEST YOUNG MALE SINGER
Michael Bracegirdle
Daniel Grice
Telman Guzhevsky
Ronald Nairne
Levente Molnar

BEST CHORUS MEMBER IN A SOLO ROLE
Deborah Davison as Third Lady The Magic Flute (ENO)
Helen Johnson as Clotilde Norma (English Touring Opera at Cadogan Hall)
Peter Kerr as Ambrogio The Barber of Seville (ENO)
Paul Napier-Burrows as Theatre Manager Pagliacci (ENO)
Susanna Tudor-Thomas as Second Lady The Magic Flute (ENO)

BEST COMIC FEMALE
Emma Carrington as Mistress Quickly Falstaff (Pimlico Opera at Cadogan Hall)
Emma Green as Marty and Patty Grease (Piccadilly Theatre)
Sarah Pring as Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro (WNO)
Jennifer Rhys-Davies as Berta Il barbiere Siviglia (ROH and.ENO)
Clare Shearer as Wowkle La fanciulla del West (ROH)

BEST COMIC MALE
Daniel Grice as Papageno The Magic Flute (English Touring Opera at Hackney Empire)
Tim Mead as Elyza Scratch Varjak Paw (The Opera Group at Linbury Studio, ROH)
Gareth Morris as Bardolph Falstaff (Pimlico Opera at Cadogan Hall)
Andrew Shore as Bartolo The Barber of Seville (ENO)
Roderick Williams as Papageno The Magic Flute (ENO)

BEST FEMALE UNDERSTUDY
Charlotte Bull as Miss Lynch Grease (Piccadilly Theatre)
Emma Green as Marty Grease (Piccadilly Theatre)
Rowan Hellier as Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro (WNO)
Rebecca Hodge as Rizzo Grease (Piccadilly Theatre)
Simona Mihai as Belinda Dido and Aeneas (ROH)

BEST MALE UNDERSTUDY
Bennett Andrews as Kenickie Grease (Piccadilly Theatre)
Jamie Tyler as Doody Grease (Piccadilly Theatre)
Joao Fernandes as Giove La Calisto (ROH)
James Cleverton as Oppenheimer Dr Atomic (ENO)
Mark Richardson as Don Basilio The Barber of Seville (ENO)

BEST TECHNICAL HITCH (and how well they were overcome)
Leading lady in wheelchair (Il barbiere di Siviglia, ROH)
No car in Greased Lightnin’ (Grease, Piccadilly Theatre)
Second diva wouldn’t let chorus soloist take bow (Norma, English Touring Opera at Cadogan Hall)
Surtitles not working (Madama Butterfly, Surrey Opera)

BEST MALE BOTTOM
Robert Gleadow
Ryan Quish
Tim Mead
Christopher Turner
Robert Murray

BEST FEMALE BOTTOM
Colette Boushel
Amanda Forbes
Verity Parker
Mary Plazas
Elizabeth Watts

BEST STAFF
English National Opera
Piccadilly Theatre
Prince of Wales Theatre
St John’s Smith Square
Tonbridge School

Piccadilly Theatre

August 2009 (2 performances)

I’ve seen Grease twice since I reviewed it last so I thought I should review it again. I saw loads of people performing roles for the first time (the first time when I’ve been watching I mean) and a few people for the first time for ages so I’ve got lots to write about.

I’m really liking Ray Quinn and Emma Stephens more every time I see them. There are a few occasions when I think Ray needs to do his own thing a bit more (and I do mean that in the least dirty way possible) and other times where I’d prefer it if he let the music dictate the style. But he really is a great actor and singer and he could probably sing the role in pretty much any style he wanted without actually singing badly. Emma just has an amazing vocal range. Sandy has quite a big range as far as I can tell, getting on for two octaves I think and she sounds totally comfortable with the notes at both ends. She’s beautiful too. She says you get loads of girls going back stage and saying “Can I kiss him, Emma?”. I’m scared of going backstage but if I did, I’d be saying to Ray “Can I kiss her, Ray?”. But I’d kiss Ray too while I was there. He is really cute.

But understudies Stuart Ramsay and Faye Brookes have a lot to bring to the roles as well. Stuart is the first Danny I ever saw and he’s still my favourite (no offence to Ray and Danny Bayne). Danny (the character) is a total twat but Stuart is just so funny it helps me to forgive him everything. He has some funny extra jokes the other Dannys don’t do like burping when he’s on the date with Sandy - and listen to what happens to his voice after she slams the door a bit suddenly - and he really knows how to draw out each joke without overdoing it but keeping his audience with him the whole time.

Faye just has an amazing singing voice. She doesn’t have Emma’s high notes but they still sounded lovely, just thinner than her extraordinarily strong normal voice. I don’t know if it would be possible to transpose Hopelessly Devoted to You down a couple of tones, it’s not like opera or a sung-through musical when the recitative kind of leads you into a particular key and I don’t think the orchestra are visible so they could use music (I don’t know if they usually use music during the bits where you can’t see them). Faye’s voice is beautiful and even through it’s very loud it has a real gentleness and she puts so much expression into her songs. She also wasn’t afraid to sing the opening to Hopelessly Devoted to You in a really shaky voice which was quite realistic really, she had just seen Danny snogging Cha Cha. Maybe her microphone could be turned down slightly at times, Stuart has a really nice voice but he doesn’t have her power (I don’t think anyone does!) although in You’re the One that I Want she held her hand-held microphone some distance from her mouth while Stuart tried to eat his and the balance sounded perfect then.

Faye plays Sandy as really shy which fits with the storyline well. And I don’t know if her curly hair at the end was her real hair but if so I’m really impressed with how quickly they did it and if it’s a wig I really like how they paid attention to the fact that Faye has shorter hair than the other Sandys I’ve seen, her curly hair seemed exactly the right length. It’s so hard to choose a favourite Sandy and it’s a bit mean too but Faye is right up there.

Bennett Andrews played Kenickie at both performances, I’ve seen him more often as Kenickie than as Sonny but he is great at the role. Rebecca Hodge was his Rizzo at the first performance, I really like her confident sexiness. This part of her performance reminds me a lot of Natalie Langston, who was back as Rizzo for the second performance, but in other ways they’re not similar at all although they’re both funny in her first song and moving in her second. They’re both great performers with amazing and quite different voices.

Benjamin Ibbott was the only performer who’d been there every time I’d been to Grease but in the first performance I’m reviewing he wasn’t there. Jamie Tyler took his place and although he wasn’t quite convincing physically as Doody (as Eugene he can make himself appear smaller than Danny even when Danny’s played by Ray but Doody is a more confident character except when he’s talking to Frenchy) he did the humour really well and I loved his singing. Those Magic Changes was brilliant and every time you thought he couldn’t get any better, he somehow managed it. Jamie is also the first cover for Vince/Teen Angel so I hope I get the chance to hear him in those roles as he’ll get to sing two quite long songs, different from each other and from Doody’s songs too. Benjamin was back for the second performance, he is just so cute and I love how flustered he gets when Frenchy gets close to him. If I didn’t have a boyfriend I think Benjamin might have a stalker. Ryan Quish replaced Jamie as Eugene, and he was just so cute. He does a really geeky smile and he made me smile too even when he wasn’t being funny. His Eugene seemed like a really nice person, as well as a cute little geek.

Frenchy was played by Alison Hefferon at both performances. Her Frenchy is larger than life with big gestures but she does them well and without seeming at all like the posey Marty. She’s not as sweet as most Frenchys, she seems a bit pushy but it works really well and shows what an interesting character Frenchy is, there are so many ways to play her. I also love how Laura Wilson and Michael Melmoe (who was kind enough to send me a message on the blog!) are developing their onstage relationship, trying out new things. Michael had another one-liner to open the final scene with but I can’t remember what it was. I wish I did, it really made me laugh.

James Marshall was Sonny at both performances and it sounded like he was he saying “son of a b” instead of bitch. I thought maybe they were toning it down because there seemed to be more children in the audience than usual, but then a few minutes later Robyn Mellor as Marty said the full phrase. I love the way Robyn makes Marty seem so completely fake, yet it’s such a convincing performance. Jason Capewell is someone I’ve always criticised but now I’ve finally, after twelve performances, realised how funny he is. It must be difficult playing two characters who fancy themselves so much and making them likeable. I still wouldn’t say I liked his characters but in the last two performances I finally realised that Jason probably isn’t like that himself, he probably just sees it all as a really funny joke. And he is funny, he really is. And I don’t mind chest hair really. My horse Angel has hair all over his body and he’s really gorgeous.

Charlotte Bull was definitely there at the first performance and it was great to see her again. She was in the ensemble but she has such a strong stage presence, she really catches your eye – which is probably why I tend to assume she’s not there on the occasions I don’t notice her. The ensemble are all fantastic and they work together well but from the girls. Charlotte and Sophie Zucchini (I think it’s her, she does handstands in Born to Hand Jive) are the two who really stand out for me as individuals but I love all of them. In the first performance I noticed Charlotte walking onto the stage and standing in the background during Scene 1, all she did was stand in the background but she made such a big contribution to the scene.

I think I recognised Holly Fletcher, she was twirling a baton during the opening song, the second cover Patty, Alison Hefferon, was on as Frenchy, I thought it must be Holly. She’s got lovely hair too, a similar colour to Lizzi Franklin, the really funny main Patty. Of the boys in the ensemble, I kept noticing one at the last performance I attended. He had a really lovely smile and I think it was Luke Jackson but it could have been any of them. I am so bad at recognising people and the flashing lights in Grease makes it even harder. If the main characters, especially the girls, weren’t so distinctively dressed, I’d probably have real trouble even knowing who they were.

SOPHIE

Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall

Don’t worry, Violetta fans. Violetta will be reviewing a week of the Proms – but she asked especially for the Last Night, so she’ll be reviewing the final eight days, and in the meantime, Fit Crit and I will take a second turn at reviewing a week of the Proms. My first week, Week One, promised a very exciting Proms season, and I haven’t been disappointed.

One of my favourite concerts so far was certainly the concert performance of Fidelio, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, in Prom 50. Or at least, it was billed as Fidelio. What was actually performed was closer to what is usually called Beethoven’s Leonore, one of the early versions of Fidelio, although some sources claim it was known as Fidelio right from the original performance. The overture chosen was Leonora No. 2 – confusingly, the first to be written. Most people seem to prefer Fidelio, but in many ways I prefer the earlier version of the story. Yes, the spoken dialogue (not featured here) is rather unwieldy, but Leonore does give a much more sympathetic introduction to the character of Marzelline (here beguilingly sung by Adriana Kucerova) beginning with her aria rather than her duet with Stephan Rugamer’s pathetically devoted Jaquino.

The German spoken dialogue was replaced by English text, written by the late Edward Said, and pre-recorded by this evening’s excellent Leonore, Waltraud Meier. Said’s text is written from Leonore’s point of view, as she reflects on the time when she dressed as a boy and was pursued by her employer’s amorous daughter, before finally achieving what she came to do: rescuing her husband from death. The dialogue works surprisingly well, as Meier happens to be brilliant at reading spoken English text, but probably not every Leonore could do it, and it does sound rather odd moving from sung German to spoken English. Yes, Meier struggled with some of the higher notes, but she is dressed as a boy. Too many perfect high notes might prove a giveaway. Sir John Tomlinson, of course, was excellent as Rocco.

Another highlight of the week was Prom 53, a celebration of Purcell, Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn featuring the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Sir Roger Norrington and the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, who recently became the first person ever to perform the role of Rosina Il barbere in a wheelchair – and still managed to give one of the most energetic performances I’ve ever seen. The BBC Radio announcer did not reveal whether DiDonato was still suffering from a broken leg, the only possible clue being that DiDonato was described as holding onto Norrington’s hand.

DiDonato sang three arias – the famous ‘Ombra mai fu’ from Serse, definitely a mezzo if not a contralto role, and followed it with a role that’s more usually sung by a soprano – Alcina. Finally came the Scene di Berenice by Handel. DiDonato was also intereviewed and made the interesting point that Handel probably hadn’t known all that many women well, yet many of his female characters have an extraordinary strength that wasn’t typically associated with real women until some years after Handel’s death (although there were, of course, exceptions). Serse, Alcina and Berenice were all beautifully characterised by DiDonato.

So now I’m running out of space, but the other highlights of the week included PCM6, with Joshua Bell playing Schumann’s exciting Phantasiestucke. Prom 52 offered an opportunity to hear singing in Polish, with Helena Juntunen, Monica Groop and Scott Hendricks all sounding great in Szymanowski’s Stabat mater. John Adams Slominsky’s Earbox held its own well when sharing Prom 55 with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 and Strauss’ almost too vivid Symphonica domestica, Prom 57 (which included Stravinsky’s ballet Agon) inwas also particularly enjoyable.

But even the Proms contain disappointments, and probably this season’s disappointment was Michael Nyman’s Prom 54. I’m sure his works would be brilliant as film soundtracks, as they are very atmospheric, but they were a bit too repetitive for me to enjoy them in a concert setting. And whilst his adoptions of Purcell are interesting, they do seem a bit pointless, not to mention cheeky. But there was a time when I thought opera was pointless. And I was wrong about that.

Cunning Little Vixen

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk