Primi Divi

Piccadilly Theatre

June 2009

this is sophie here again, hi

There were a number of absentees from this performance. There were so many understudies performing, I might not have remembered them all correctly. But I think Stuart Ramsay (Kenickie), Natalie Langston (Rizzo), Marie Daly (Miss Lynch) and Kristina Macmillan (Cha Cha) were the ones who weren’t there but it could have been three or four other people.

Also missing from the performance was Greased Lightnin’ - the car not the song. The car didn’t appear onstage and the performers kept pointing vaguely offstage whenever they talked about it. Greased Lightnin’ was danced on the stage instead of the car, which probably was a lot safer. All the guys did really well – they didn’t miss a beat, either figuratively or musically, happily adding in extra movements etc and if you didn’t know the show you might easily think the car always stayed offstage.

But the most noticeable absentee was the second act. When the first act came to an end, a man came out onto the stage and informed us the power had gone and it would be unsafe to continue the show with only emergency lighting available. We were all given the choice of a full refund or a ticket to see a future performance at no extra cost.

I was sad – I love Grease so of course I wanted to see it all, especially with all those understudies everywhere – I might never get to see all of them in Act 2. It’s bad for everyone though. The performers who love the show, the understudies who must have been so excited. And the audience, especially the crowds that had cheered Holly Fletcher’s name when her promotion to a solo role was announced (even if Holly did get to perform Friday night or on Saturday her friends might not all have been able to get tickets, not on Friday evening/Saturday), the poor harassed teachers who had more than enough trouble getting the kids to take their seats even once, and the lady on the phone in the foyer talking about ‘another technical hitch’ leading to a cancellation.

But Act 1 was great and I like the idea of reviewing half a musical. It’s hard to judge everyone on this performance – I won’t really know how good a Rizzo Rebecca Hodge is until I’ve heard her sing There are Worse Things I Could Do and I can’t review Holly Fletcher as Cha Cha because Cha Cha is only in Act 2.

First of all I really liked the guy who came onstage and announced there would be no Act 2. He was so nice about it and he seemed really natural. A lot of people when they get up on stage to give announcements seem really uncomfortable and moody which is totally understandable because it’s scary doing announcements like that and they’ve got to deliver some bad news. Also it’s probably more important in that situation to make sure you’re heard than to keep your tone of voice as friendly as possible and often there’s a structured way of making the announcements anyway so it’s going to sound a bit unnatural and robotic. But this guy seemed really nice, it was almost like he was just chatting to us. Actually all the staff at the Piccadilly Theatre are like that. Opera staff should be more like him, I’m scared of going to the opera but I love going to musicals.

Emma Stephens (Sandy) is someone I heavily criticised in my last review but I loved her this time. The fact that I was heavily criticised for criticising her has nothing to do with my change of heart. I wouldn’t change my mind just because someone criticises me, I’m not mature enough to do things like that. It’s possible I was influenced by the fact I heard Emma giving an interview and she is the loveliest person ever but then I think Ray is really lovely too and I’m still not that keen on his Danny. But Emma is lovely so I’m really glad I loved her this time. Ray is such a lucky guy and I just hope he doesn’t treat Emma like he treated his last girlfriend. Anyway, I really enjoyed Emma’s performance this time. She’s not the greatest singer in the world (the greatest singer in the world is Iain Paton and she’s definitely not him) but she is good and she probably does a much better Sandy than Iain. She has a sweet voice and as I said before her interpretation of Sandy works really well. She’s shy and lacking in confidence but she’s got spirit.

I still don’t particularly like Ray Quinn as Danny but that might be because Danny just isn’t my type. I don’t like swaggering overconfident guys. But even my favourite Danny, Stuart Ramsay, doesn’t really make me like the character, it’s just Stuart’s interpretation happens to be perfectly tuned in to my sense of humour. I didn’t like it when Ray flexed his muscles, that was a bit ewwww but I just don’t like muscles, I like men with weedy arms and muscley bums. My boyfriend plays football so he’s not totally weedy but he has got skinny arms and that is so much sexier than horrible big muscles. Seriously Ray’s muscles are so big they’re practically bigger than he is. Ray and Emma also seemed to have more chemistry this time. They’re probably relaxing into the roles a bit more – in some ways it might be harder for a real-life couple to play a couple onstage because they’re pretending to be different people so they’ve got to relate to each other in different ways onstage.

Michael Melmoe and Laura Wilson were again really funny as Roger and Jan. Michael sounded like he might have had a slight sore throat but the richness of his voice still startled me, really beautiful sound. Benjamin Ibbott is just so gorgeous as Doody, exactly the sort of man I go for. At one point he got out his comb and started doing his quiff, he reminded me of my boyfriend. My boyfriend’s never winked at me though. Robyn Mellor was Marty, she went a bit over the top but it worked because Marty is a poser. Jamie Tyler was so sweet as Eugene – he’s bigger and broader than Ray but you don’t really notice that – you can believe Jamie is frightened of Ray. Jason Capewell was his usual self as Vince. He might have been his usual self as Teen Angel too but he’s in Act 2 so I didn’t see him.

I saw Faye Brookes as Frenchy for the first time and she is adorable. She had her hairclips lower down than Emily Bull and Lucie Downer did and it looked really sweet. She’s a really great singer too. Frenchy doesn’t sing much but when the overture thing started and they were all singing I could hear this really beautiful female voice and I think it was coming from Faye. I hope I get to see her as Sandy some time. It’s a really strong voice but the sound is quite gentle and lyrical so I bet her Hopelessly Devoted to You is gorgeous.

I’d seen one of the understudies before – Bennett Andrews as Kenickie. I think the first three times I saw Grease he was Kenickie and I loved him but it’s been a while so I’d forgotten how good he is. His low notes are really powerful and he’s really good at the rock style. He’s the second Danny cover and I can’t imagine him as Danny – which makes me want to see him as Danny even more. He did really well with the movement during Greased Lightnin’ – it looked like he was putting extra movements in to make up for the invisible car. As he couldn’t stand on the car, he couldn’t always be seen easily behind all the dancers but he made sure he was the star of the song, just as Kenickie would do.

Rebecca Hodge sang Rizzo and I really liked her. As soon as she walked onto the stage there was all this confidence eminating off her. Lots of sex appeal too. I didn’t get to hear There are Worse Things I Could Do obviously but I think she’d sing it really well. Even though Sandra Dee was mostly sung in various silly voices (she was really good at those but maybe she did it a bit too much?) you could tell she was a strong singer.

Niamh Bracken was playing Miss Lynch and she was great – she doesn’t scream like Chloe Brooks and Lucy Boldero but she’s so wonderfully intimidating, she doesn’t need to. I think it was her body language. I can’t read people’s body languages normally but body language is always bigger and more obvious onstage, kind of like Large Print body language.

Now it gets confusing. Because I was so excited about seeing Rebecca as Rizzo I kind of stopped listening to the understudy announcements a little bit so I’m not totally sure of who was playing Sonny. It’s most likely to be James Marshall as he’s the first cover but it could have been Charles Ruhrmond. I think it probably was James because it wasn’t a name that jumped out at me and a German-sounding name like Ruhrmond probably would no matter how excited I was although maybe it was wasn’t pronounced in a German way. Also I think there were five guys in the ensemble – if the first cover (James) is playing Sonny, I’d expect the second cover (Charles) to be in the ensemble but if the second cover is singing Sonny, I would expect that to mean the first cover isn’t available in which case there would only be four guys in the ensemble.

But anyway whoever he was, he was good. The three Sonnys I’ve seen so far played the scene with Miss Lynch in a completely different way and James (or Charles) was different too. He really seemed to dislike Miss Lynch – probably not surprising really, considering how good she is at making him look stupid in front of his mates. It’s probably happened to him so many times. Also when someone asked him if ‘going all the way’ was all he ever thought about, instead of shouting ‘hell yeah!’ in a gleeful sort of way, it was more like well duh obviously.

Then there’s the confusion of which role Holly Fletcher was playing – I think she’s the only person who’s ever got a cheer when her name was announced as an understudy. But I do think it was probably Cha Cha. She’s covering Patty and Cha Cha – the person playing Patty did look like Lizzi Franklin and Kristina Macmillan who usually plays Cha Cha didn’t seem to be in the opening scene which she usually appears in as a random schoolgirl. But maybe Holly looks more like Lizzi than she does in the programme – Lizzi has really distinctive red hair (gorgeous colour) but maybe Holly does too. Her hair looks darker than Lizzi’s in the black and white programme photograph but not by much. Also if Holly was performing Patty, Kristina mst have been there in which case she’s dyed her hair blonde. The ensemble did seem to have two straight-haired blondes – maybe Charlotte Bull has straightened her hair but if she was there I’m not sure why she wasn’t playing Miss Lynch as she’s the first cover (Miss Lynch was played by second cover Niamh Bracken) but maybe she’s been snogging Michael Melmoe (lucky girl) and caught his sore throat which would affect her ability to screech. I’m sure it was Niamh Bracken who they said was playing Miss Lynch but she’s also the first Marty cover.

But anyway Lizzi (I think) was really funny as Patty and I liked the way she shouted at Sandy a lot more during the cheerleaders’ practice which does make it slightly more forgivable when Sandy decides to push her over. Cha Cha only appears in the second half so Holly didn’t get to play her but she must be great, her name got a bigger reaction from the audience than Ray’s muscles.

So if you’re confused like me this is who I think the cast was

Danny – Ray Quinn
Sandy – Emma Stephens
Kenickie – Bennett Andrews
Rizzo – Rebecca Hodge
Doody – Benjamin Ibbott
Frenchy – Faye Brookes
Roger – Michael Melmoe
Jan – Laura Wilson
Sonny – James Marshall (or maybe Charles Ruhrmond)
Marty – Robyn Mellor (or very possibly Niamh Bracken)
Patty – Lizzi Franklin (or maybe Holly Fletcher)
Eugene – Jamie Tyler
Vince/Teen Angel – Jason Capewell
Miss Lynch – Niamh Bracken (or maybe Charlotte Bull)
Cha Cha – Holly Fletcher (or maybe Kristina Macmillan)

I really need to listen to understudy announcements better. After all, it’s not like I’m not interested.

Prince of Wales Theatre

this review is by Sophie and I think i should be a co writer and i also think Cunning little vixen should change her password coz i know what it is now

Mamma Mia! is a really popular musical but I’ve never quite understood why. I did enjoy the performance but there are lots musicals I enjoy more that haven’t had an eleven year run in the West End (not recently anyway). Like Oklahoma!, West Side Story, Into the Woods, even Grease.

The music is probably a lot to do with its popularity. The music is great. The songs are very catchy and although there are lots of fast, happy songs not everything is fast and happy (most of the songs are fast though). Most of the famous ABBA songs are here (my favourite isn’t but I’m sure most people’s favourite is). I don’t exactly have a high opinion of the plot (as you’ll find out) but the songs do fit in with the plot really well. There is a reason why each song happens when it does – some songs take on a different meaning because of the plot and I think that’s a good thing but they still deserve a better plot.

Yes the plot of Mamma Mia! is better than the plot of We Will Rock You. We Will Rock You hardly has a plot at all. But We Will Rock You is consistently mad. It’s so mad, you don’t mind so much about things that don’t make sense. And it also has lots of interesting and really likeable characters like Scaramouche, I love Scaramouche.

The plot… I have so many problems with the plot of Mamma Mia!. It’s a fun idea, Sophie finding out her dad is one of three people and inviting them all to the wedding. My mum said they should have had a paternity test but there probably wasn’t time to organise one before the wedding. And as the dads say, they are lucky to have a third of Sophie. That’s more than enough.

And it is a bit odd really. Sophie finds out her mother slept with three guys in the space of a few days and she seems really excited about this. It turns out later that maybe she is a bit disgusted - and that’s another thing, Sophie and Donna seem to have a really good relationship, okay Donna isn’t that keen on the idea of Sophie getting married but she just seems like a typical mother worrying about her kid. Then suddenly near the end it’s like Sophie hates Donna and they don’t have a good relationship. But anyway, I’d expect her to find the sex thing a bit embarrassing even if they’re really close and if they aren’t it needs to be made clearer and it should be done in a way that makes you sympathise with both of them. Like in Grease, even though Danny treats Sandy like shit you don’t totally hate him and you’re happy for them to end up together.

The ending of Mamma Mia! is wrong too. Donna and Sophie are finally reconciled or at least growing even closer, only for Sophie to decide to go away with Sky. It would be more satisfying if she’d stayed around to keep working on the relationship with her mum and to get to know her dads. Maybe finding her dad isn’t such a big dream for her now but it would be polite to stay around, she's the one who invited them.

Donna’s wedding doesn’t seem the best idea either. She thinks Sophie is rushing into marriage when she’s presumably known Sky for a while. Then Donna goes running up the aisle with a bloke she’s only really known for a day (and she’s spent most of that time hiding from him). Yes she loved him twenty-one years ago but people change. It would be a shame if she’d spent all that money on a wedding only for Sophie to refuse to get married but it’s going to end up costing a lot more if Donna and Sam get divorced. Is it allowed anyway? Maybe it’s different on Greek islands but I thought they had to announce church weddings three weeks in advance.

But the big plot hole for me is, how does Sophie manage to write to them all? How does she know where they live? Even if Donna has their addresses in her diary it’s been twenty-one years, they’ve probably moved. And what about when they accepted the invitations? Sophie made them think Donna sent the invitations. So wouldn’t they accept by writing to Donna? If so, it looks like Sophie’s been reading Donna’s mail as well as her diary. And I think that’s wrong.

But I can see where Sophie gets it from. Apparently, Donna and Sophie lived with a lady called Sophia when Sophie was younger. She was the aunt of one of Sophie’s potential dads (I’m afraid I got them all really badly confused and I don’t know which one was Sophia’s nephew but I think it was probably Sam). Sophia left her money to Donna and Sophie and it becomes known that she left it to ‘family’. So, how does Sophia know that Donna and Sophie are family? Only if Donna told her Sophie was Sam’s daughter. And how can she be sure about that? I think it’s awful that Donna lied to Sophia like that and then ended up getting her money. Maybe she did tell Sophia, maybe Sophia left them the money in full knowledge that Sophie might not be a relative but it all seems a bit dodgy really. And it’s a bit surprising that Sophia told Sam nothing about it and that Sam didn’t hear any gossip from any other family member about this new ‘family member’ who appeared out of nowhere.

Then there’s the problem with the characters. Mamma Mia! doesn’t have many characters I like. Donna’s two friends Tanya and Rosie are brilliant. They do have some stereotypical aspects but they’re warm, kind, loving people. Jane Gurnett and Katy Secombe are both very funny and they bounce off each other well. They’re brilliant singers too – it’s a shame they aren’t in it more because I do love them.

I also like the guy Tanya seduces. It was either Pepper (Ben Heathcoate) or Eddie (Sam Mackay), I’m not really sure but he was sweet. He’s only interested in her (enhanced) body but in such an innocent way like when Glyn fancied Lea in Big Brother 7.

The dads aren’t all that bad I suppose except that I’ve got them confused, even though they have different accents. I think Sam (Norman Bowman) is the one Donna ends up with, Bill (Christopher Hollins) is the one Rosie snags and Harry (Paul Ryan) is the gay one. The first time I watched it I was really young and I didn’t realise Harry was gay and I had just read a book about a girl called Lawrence so when Harry said his partner was called Lawrence I thought he was a girl. But this time it’s just so obvious, there are loads of clues. They all seemed like good people and they’re really nice to Sophie no matter how bratty she is but the differences between them seemed quite superficial ones, just on the outside like different accents, different jobs and that doesn’t really tell you much about who they are inside.

Oh and I like Father Alexander too, he was played by Gerard Leighton-Duffy who was also in the ensemble. Father Alexander is such a tiny role and Gerard didn’t have much to do but he did it really well, he was funny. Poor man though, having to deal with that lot.

There are good things about Donna. She has done really well to raise a child on her own (even if that child is a brat) and she’s doing a good job managing her hotel (or whatever it is, the programme doesn’t have a synopsis so I’m all confused now). But the thing with Sophia and the money really bothers me and even though Donna does have lots to worry her – her daughter’s getting married, her job isn’t much fun, she doesn’t make much money even though she’s in charge and now 3 of her exes have showed up – she does seem like a bit of a moany cow.

Sally Ann Triplett is a great singer though (she’s got LOADS to sing) and she did all Donna’s emotions really well so I felt for her even though I couldn’t stand her. Sally Ann is acclaimed for singing Rizzo in Grease, it was good to see someone I’d heard of and I bet she was good too, she can do the toughness and the vulnerability and she’s definitely got the voice.

Sky, Sophie’s fiancé is a total twat although maybe he’s trying to seem macho to make up for the fact he’s got a girl’s name. Even though Sophie is a brat the way he speaks to her is really awful. Acting all hurt because she didn’t tell him she’d invited her dads to the wedding. IT’S NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU SKY! They’re her dads, not yours. You don’t tell your boyfriend everything, well I don’t. Some things are too personal, too private and maybe Sophie didn’t feel ready to talk about it seriously. And as Sophie said, Sky wouldn’t like what she’s done. And that’s fine, everyone does things sometimes their partner doesn’t like, some things are important and if you’re getting married you would normally want your dad to give you away. Oliver J Hembrough is a good singer though but there’s only so much an actor can do when his character is a twat.

As for Sophie, she’s an immature brat and for once I’m not talking about me even though I’m one too. I don’t like the way she forces herself on her dads. They deal with it well and with amazing good humour but it must be a real shock for them and she’s so pushy. Then at the end she suddenly decides she isn’t going to get married, after Donna’s spent so much time and money arranging it. I don’t think she’s ready to get married but once you’ve gone up the aisle I think it’s a bit late. And if she’s going to go off with Sky anyway, why not marry him first?

It just seems a bit like she wants what she hasn’t got. She wants a dad, she wants a big wedding (both of which are reasonable) but as soon as she’s got three dads and she’s about to get married, she changes her mind and decides she doesn’t want to get married and she doesn’t want to spend time getting to know her dads. I can be like that sometimes but I’m not a heroine in a musical, I’m not someone everyone’s supposed to love. Niamh Perry did well with all the singing, Sophie has loads of to sing like Donna. It might be possible to play Sophie in a nicer way and Niamh probably could do it, she did do the brattishness very convincingly so she might be equally convincing when she’s playing a nice girl.

There were two ex-Grease people in the cast, Lucy Boldero and Russell Smith. I’m a bit annoyed Lucy only seems to be covering Ali, Sophie’s friend (whose role basically consists of screaming) as she’s an amazing actress and singer and I’m sure she could do a lot with a role like Sophie – if the director lets her. I never saw Russell in a solo role but he’s probably good. He’s covering Sky and Eddie. All the roles in Mamma Mia! have three covers except Father Alexander who has two and Tanya, Rosie and Harry who have four.

Mamma Mia! is really popular and most people don’t seem bothered by all the things I think are wrong with it so don’t let me put you off, you’ll probably love it. The music is great and there are some really good performers and most people seem to love the plot. My boyfriend agrees with most of what I think but it didn’t really bother him, he just got lost in all the emotions and enjoyed what was there. And I enjoyed a lot of what was there too so it can’t be that bad.

English National Opera

19th June 2009

I love Mozart’s operas, but Cosi fan tutte has a disappointing habit of boring me to death. It’s difficult to know why – those who have claimed it’s musically the most sophisticated of the three Da Ponte operas certainly have a point. The ensembles might not quite reach the comedic heights of Acts 2 and 4 of Le nozze di Figaro, but they’re not far off, and Fiordiligi’s arias, arguably, beat Susanna’s in everything but simplicity. Each character is vividly drawn, with the different personalities of the four lovers at least suggested from first-act arias. And then there’s an open ending to the story, not obviously a happy or a sad one, though either can be suggested by the production. One excitement of this opera is that you don’t always know how it’s going to end.

So what makes this opera boring? It’s difficult to say. Whatever this opera claims to ‘prove’ about women, the truth is that it takes a particularly strong performance to make Fiordiligi and Dorabella seem attractive as characters. And Ferrando too – I’ve always had trouble with the claims that Fiordiligi and Ferrando are ‘really’ in love. At least Guglielmo’s seduction of Dorabella is no more than a bit of teasing fun that, unfortunately for Guglielmo’s best friend, has a result. When Ferrando sneaks up on Fiordiligi, it’s difficult to believe he has anything other than revenge in mind; a desire to hurt his best friend. His ‘Tradito, schernito’ aria seems to make this clear. Yes, his duet with Fiordiligi is very passionate, but his passion seems (to me) to come more from anger, jealousy and hurt than any real love for Fiordiligi – although, as an apparently faithful woman, it’s easy to see why she might be more Ferrando’s type than Dorabella at this moment.

Do I want to watch six not particularly nice people playing jokes on one another? Not especially no. So the singers have a very difficult task. The four lovers (if not all the characters) need to make me like them. And whilst in this production only two cast members really produced a great performance both musically and dramatically, five out of the six cast members displayed likeable characteristics.

Susan Gritton sang the role of Fiordiligi and was vocally stunning (give or take the odd bottom A, but that isn’t really a soprano note anyway). Every line was beautifully phrased, both arias sung with aplomb but also with deep feeling, and, despite the fact Fiordiligi is undeniably fickle and not the most intelligent creature on the planet, Gritton managed to give an impression of great sincerity that was rather surprising but very likeable. I cared about this Fiordiligi; I believed in her mental anguish (no matter how ridiculous), and I wanted the story to end happily for her.

Fiona Murphy didn’t give such a strong impression as Dorabella, but that seemed to be part of her interpretation. Her Dorabella seemed very shallow, inclined to follow her sister rather than think up ideas for herself. When Fiordiligi proves indecisive, Dorabella attaches herself to Despina instead. When she’s alone with the disguised Guglielmo, it doesn’t take the most remarkable powers of persuasion to bring her around to his way of thinking. It might have been possible to express this side of Dorabella’s character in a more dynamic way, but it’s probably difficult for any Dorabella to measure up to a Fiordiligi of Susan Gritton’s experience. Vocally, Murphy could perhaps have done more, but it doesn’t help that only Dorabella’s amusing – and comparatively short - first aria even comes vaguely close to Fiordiligi’s two showpieces.

All three men in the opera seemed out of sorts at the beginning, but they all settled somewhat towards the end of the second half. At any rate, they learned to keep in time with the orchestra. As Ferrando, Thomas Glenn displayed a very sweet tenor, but he struggled to act during his arias. Liam Bonner’s baritone was on the heavy side for Guglielmo, but he is a real stage animal, leaping about the stage in a way that added to the drama rather than detracting from it. Steven Page as Don Alfonso was the only character I really disliked – he was a long way from the comparatively cuddly versions offered by Thomas Allen or Andrew Shore – but it didn’t matter that he seemed a bit of a nasty bully, preying on the weak-minded. He wasn’t in great voice but the role wasn’t written for a great singer.

Sophie Bevan sang the role of Despina. Her graduation from the Royal College of Music wasn’t all that long ago, but I’ve heard her singing Monteverdi, Musorgsky and now Mozart for the ENO (plus composers varying from Handel to James MacMillan in concert) and there seems to be nothing she can’t do. Comedy is also a part of her repertoire. Her comic timing is excellent. She sang beautifully throughout the first act, even when she was the magnetic doctor. A slightly heavier singing voice with a more prominent vibrato was her only vocal disguise here, and it was all that was needed. You don’t need to sing badly in order to be funny. I also loved what she did with her voice when she accidentally turned the magnet on herself. It was very funny – but it also sounded really nice.

Bevan did put on a stupid voice when she was the notary and immediately became a lot less funny. The fact that such a lovely voice is also capable of producing such ugliness is, in some ways, impressive, but I don’t find it funny at all. If it was only for a few lines, it wouldn’t have mattered so much, but she has a very long section to sing. It sounded horrible, and it can’t be good for her voice. There is so much variation in the operatic voice, and Bevan seems particularly versatile.

Abbas Kiarostami’s production (a co-production with the Grand Theatre de Luxembourg and the Festival d’Art Lyrique, Aix-en-Provence) perhaps holds the distinction of being the first opera ever directed by e-mail (didn’t he have a webcam?) after the film director was denied a visa. There was a bit too much rushing about all over the stage at the least provocation, but I really liked the film element. The sea view with the boat drifting from view looked lovely. It suited the opera well – and a lot of the opera is about illusion. We have the literal illusion created by the disguises, and of course there are Ferrando’s and Guglielmo’s illusions about their girlfriends.

As for the filmed orchestra onstage during the second act finale, it looked like a real, live orchestra from my seat. If there were any other films, I didn’t notice them, so I didn’t find them intrusive and distracting.

The sets (designed by the operatic-sounding Malika Chauveau) were perfectly adequate (I liked seeing the sisters painting their lovers’ portraits rather than sighing over them which is usually the case) and apparently easy to move – during scene changes, a lilac screen came down (a nice colour and in keeping with the love theme, without being as clichéd as pink). Scene changes took place very quickly, and I only remember hearing one lot of thumps from behind the curtain.

Also, the ENO Chorus made a rare appearance – in the other two productions I’ve seen at the ENO, the Chorus were given the night off while the orchestra (and, briefly, a tape recorder in Samuel West’s production at the Barbican) provided an instrumental-only version of their music. Although the opera works perfectly well without a chorus, it was good to see something different at the ENO, and it was rather amusing to see Fiordiligi and Dorabella, who were so concerned about being seen entertaining other men, only too willing to get married in front of a crowd. Although if all women are indeed the same, I’m sure none of their neighbours was the least bit surprised.

Cunning Little Vixen

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

I don’t know the result of this. I know who I think won it but I stopped watching before the result and recorded that bit. So I can’t go to the Singer of the World site for the aria titles because I know it’ll have the winner splashed all over the place so this is going to be a bit crap and unprofessional especially considering I should know them all anyway. I can’t ask the others because I don’t trust them not to blab the result.

So first up was Eri Nakamura. Before the concert I was convinced she would win. Obviously I didn’t really know because I’d only seen one aria from each competitor so I didn’t have much idea of them as complete opera singers but Eri’s song was so well-performed she was my front-runner.

To start off with she sang Juliette’s Je veux vivre from Romeo et Juliette which seems quite a popular choice this year. Eri sang it very well but I thought she seemed a bit nervous, not surprising really but she wasn’t at her best. But in a way her nervousness really suited the aria because I believed she was a fourteen year old girl.

In her second aria she stayed with Juliet, this time she was Bellini’s version. Giulietta. Eri has sung this at the ROH but the audience are a bit further away there and you can do the whole thing in character. She sounded a lot more sure of herself this time and even though she was singing the same character there were differences, she seemed like a slightly more grown-up version in this and obviously the style was different.

Then she sang one of Liu’s arias from Turandot. Mary King (who was giving her opinion on the singers, it was her and Susan Graham) said she thought Liu was too big a role for Eri at the moment but that she would do a great job of it later on. I kind of agree, Eri does have quite a light voice for Liu but I thought for a concert it was okay. She sang it really nicely and she brought Liu’s character across really well, she was being quite tough at the beginning but you saw what she’s like underneath it as well.

Next up was Cacille by Richard Strauss, not an opera aria but it was something to sing with the orchestra. I wasn’t sure about her German but I did like how she sang it.

Then after that I’m pretty sure she did another song (I started writing notes halfway through Giordano Luca’s songs and good thing I did because then I’d have forgotten even more songs) but I’m pretty sure Eri came back to opera for her last aria. I think I remember getting really excited about it, it might have been something to do with her boobs but I’ve actually got a feeling it wasn’t. Eri went out with a bang, in a good way. (Once I’ve watched the end and seen the winner maybe I’ll come back and edit the song titles in.) But this was really brilliantly and confidently sung.

I can’t say I was disappointed with Eri because you can’t blame her for being nervous and it was a good performance and it could be she wasn’t nervous, maybe she was just acting nervous because she was pretending to be a teenage girl who’s got a new bloke. It’s good she was able to relax into it at the end and really enjoyed it but at this stage I was thinking she could still win, she could definitely still win, brilliant performer but maybe she won’t walk it.

The second singer was Giordano Luca, the only Italian tenor ever to appear in a final which is a bit of a surprise as most people when they think of opera would think of Italian tenors (unless they thought of Domingo I suppose but I bet loads of people think he’s Italian). I wasn’t that impressed by him in his first concert but he won the round and everyone’s been raving about him so obviously I was missing something.

He sang Una furtiva langrima from L’elisir d’amore first. I thought Giordano sang quite nicely in this but he did seem a bit shaky sometimes, could be nerves, and a bit tight at the top, same. But I also thought he didn’t do anything like really special. I’ve heard this song so many times by so many people and when I have to sit through it again I want to hear someone do something with it that makes me sit up and listen and think oh yes that’s quite a good song actually. But Giordano didn’t quite.

Next up was the Duke of Mantua, La donna e mobile from Rigoletto (or We’ve got Cesc Fabregas to the Arsenal fans, now that really is something to sing about) and I think Mary had a point when she said Giordano wasn’t naughty enough. I also thought the fast passage was maybe a little bit clumsy and he wasn’t totally comfortable with the aria. That’s just me though.

Then he came on and sang Rodolfo’s Your Tiny Hand is Frozen and suddenly I saw what everyone was raving about. It’s another one of those arias everyone does and usually I don’t think it quite works if he hasn’t got a Mimi there. But this was like he did have a Mimi there. He was really intense, totally into the character, I got quite caught up in the drama and I don’t even like Boheme that much, not the soppy bits. And it was really well sung as well. Like I said I’d only heard one of his arias from his first concert but if he sang the other 2 half as well as this I can see why he won his round and got into the final.

Then he came back on as Macduff. Macduff is quite a big character in the play but in the opera he only really shows up at the end after his family is killed. Mary and Susan weren’t totally sure if he could do it and I can see their point, it’s a role for quite a big voice really and obviously Macduff’s a married bloke, well a widowed bloke who used to have loads of children, Giordano is only 21, he might have loads of children but I’d be quite surprised really. I liked the beginning bit where he was singing about how sad he was but when it went into the revenge bit he didn’t quite get into the character. He did sing it well though, his voice had warmed up so the tightness was gone and I could see him putting emotion and like different vocal colours into it which I couldn’t really hear earlier on.

I’m really glad I got the chance to hear Giordano again. Obviously when he won his group and got through I thought I must be missing something. Okay I didn’t think he was quite as good a performer as Mary and Susan said but his Rodolfo was brilliant. And even though I don’t think the judges should take this into account, it’s not fair on the others but that was a seriously top class performance from a singer who is only 21 and according to the presenter Huw Something (thought he was good, he was funny but didn’t go all out trying to entertain everyone and he knew his music) Giordano had never sung with a big orchestra like that before and okay yes he sometimes got out of time with him but that sometimes happens and I think he’s done really well to get so comfortable with an orchestra as he has.

The third singer was Jan Martinik who walked off with the Song Prize on Friday or Saturday or whenever it was. I liked him when I saw him in the concerts, he got this really sad look on his face which I remembered but I didn’t think he was one of the stars for me and I was a bit surprised he got into the finals although obviously it’s hard for me to judge any of them when I’ve only heard one song and it’s not like I’m a proper judge anyway, I just like giving my opinions on things.

Jan started off with an aria from Rusalka and right from the first note I was like, actually he totally should be in the final shouldn’t he. It wasn’t exactly an all-action song, it was very calm but he had this big intensity thing going on, this energy coming off him that really gets your attention. He’s got a great voice as well, really great sound.

His next song was totally different, Don Basilio’s La calumnia from Barber of Seville. I didn’t know if Jan could do comedy but he so can, he kept doing these things with his eyes, it was so funny. Completely different character and he sang it really well. You know what, I’ve heard this song millions of times, I’ve heard all kinds of great singers singing it but I don’t think I’ve ever sat listening to it before and been thinking like, you know what that’s a really nice voice. But with Jan I was hearing all the humour in it and I was loving it but I was loving his nice voice too. Not in a gay way, just in a music appreciation way, you know what I mean.

For his last song Jan did another sad one but in another different style, he did the bit from Don Carlo where King Philip is singing about how his wife doesn’t love him, she fancies his son (by the way that’s her stepson who is actually the same age as her, it’s not an incest opera). King Philip is obviously a bit of an old bloke as he’s got grown-up children, not sure how old Jan is but I think he’s got to be under 35, I’m sure there’s an age limit somewhere around there. So I suppose he might just about have a 19 year old which could be how old Don Carlo is but he’s not going to know anything about being an old guy because he just isn’t. But when he was singing you could just believe he was old, you just got this impression of slowness and tiredness and another thing I really liked was he didn’t wave his arms about and make a big thing about it, he was really like restrained so like even though he was really sad and stuff there was kind of like this dignity about him that reminds you he’s the king.

So after that I was thinking we could have a double winner here. Marius Brenciu who’s a tenor won the Main Prize and the Song Prize in 2001 I think but no-one else has ever done that. It was the 26th Main Prize but the Song Prize is newer but it can’t be all that new because Bryn Terfel won it and he’s like ancient. Jan could win the Main Prize, he’s done a 100% good programme.

Yuriy Mynenko is the counter tenor from the Ukraine, I thought he was great to listen to but I didn’t think he was that good really. So I was surprised to see him in the final really but I was very happy for him to prove me wrong if he felt like it.

He started off by singing an aria I’d never heard of from an opera I’d never heard of. I think it might be called something like Idaspe and it was by a composer called something like Broesch. I really liked the aria, it was good stuff. I still didn’t think Yuriy was the best singer in the final but he did get a stronger sound this time and you really got a feeling for the character in this aria.

His Serse aria was good in lots of ways, his voice can sound really lovely but when he gets under pressure he honks a little bit and that part wasn’t so good. But that’s just me, it really is just me. The audience seemed to like him the best so far, Mary and Susan both adored him, obviously the judges liked him or he wouldn’t have been there.

I did really like his Tancredi aria though which I was quite relieved about actually, I thought there was something wrong with my ears or something. It was a good one to finish with and not just because I liked it best, it was a really dramatic aria. I wrote in my notes that he was quite commanding, I’m not totally sure what I meant now but it was a really exciting aria and he sang it really well.

I think Yuriy probably can win through. I haven’t agreed totally with Mary and Susan on everything so far because everyone has different tastes but I do respect their opinion and it’s so completely different from mine on Yuriy I’d say they’re probably right and I’m not. Which is what you’d expect really.

The last singer was Ekaterina Shcherbachenko who sang Tatyana’s Letter Scene in one of the earlier concerts. I think I’m partly being influenced here by what Mary was saying about her blowing everyone away with it but even though I nearly didn’t pick her as my choice of winner from her concert she did one of the performances I remember most from the concerts.

She started off with Marguerite’s Jewel Song from Faust. I don’t like this aria much, I think it’s a bit silly but I really got into it this time. Ekaterina did that thing again, when she was Tatyana she made me believe she had paper and pen and stuff like that, this time it was almost like I could see the jewels, I can’t quite imagine them probably but I don’t know loads about jewels really. But you know maybe I should get hold of a box and give it to some girl, it worked with Marguerite. Ekaterina sang it really well too, nice tone and it seemed really easy for her.

Next she sang a Liu aria, not the one Eri sang, another one, the more famous one which I can’t remember the name of which is really pissing me off. It’s not actually an aria I’ve ever tried singing though so I don’t exactly know it really well. The singing was really nice and she got all the emotions in her voice and in her face but one thing about the way Ekaterina sang this aria, you could tell Liu is a slave girl. She was kind of looking down as she sang, appearing quite awkward like she knows she knows her place and she knows she’s overstepping things a bit but what she’s got to say is really important.

Then last she sang Anne Trulove’s big No Word from Tom aria from The Rake’s Progress. When she said she was singing an aria in English I guessed it was this and I was like oh no I don’t want to hear that again. But it was really good, I didn’t get bored once, Ekaterina really brought out the tunes in it and she didn’t get on my nerves, Anne usually gets on my nerves. And the ending was really well sung, it was actually exciting, I wasn’t thinking like, should I cover my ears for this bit, I was more like, actually this isn’t a bad song. And her English was really good, English is a b*d to sing even if it’s your first language. Her diction wasn’t perfect but how many millions of English/American/Australian singers can you say that about? And you know sometimes when like a Russian singer might sing (or any nationality) and you’ll hear a bit of a Russian or whatever accent, I didn’t get that with Ekaterina, that might be because not all her words were clear but whatever, I think she was great

I thought she could win this as soon as she came out onto the stage. And afterwards I thought she could easily win it and right now she’s my favourite to win it. And not just because she’s a hot blonde. Eri is a hot brunette though.

The Audience Prize is going to be announced as well, I’m not sure who it’s going to be but I hope it’s Etienne Dupris because he was really unlucky to miss out on the final I thought although maybe the arias I didn’t hear were a bit crap, who knows. But the last two times at least the Audience Prize has been given to someone who didn’t get into the Final but probably should have done, Jacques Imbrailo last time and Ha Young Lee the time before that. Although actually they were both ROH Young Artists so maybe the audience will go for Ji-Min Park this time as he’s a Young Artist (so’s Eri but she was in both finals), after all the Young Artists have been singing at the best opera house in the world so they probably had lots of fans right from the start, before they’d even sung their first note in the competition and Ji-Min is a really good singer. So I’ll go for Ji-Min or Etienne for the Audience Prize.

So the Main Prize I’ve got a feeling Ekaterina could win it but Jan was also really good so he might get it. They were the two best for me on the night but Eri is so close, the judges might easily go for her because they might think her last aria was the best thing of the evening which it might have been and if I was wrong about Eri being nervous or they couldn’t see it (they were a long way away), she’s right up there with them. And the same with Giordano, his Rodolfo was definitely one of the best bits and he’s the youngest, I think the youngest singers in the final won the last 2 main prizes, Nicole Cabell and Shen Yang, I don’t think you should take age into account really but maybe sometimes the only way of choosing between 2 singers is to look at their potential and the youngest one usually has more potential if that makes sense because they’ve probably got more career ahead of them. Yuriy I obviously have a mental block about so I can’t rule him out either and he is exciting to watch because I’ve never heard a counter tenor singing that high before. But I know who I’d vote for. Hairy won’t like me saying this, he’s very anti-gambling but my Money is on Ekaterina.

FitCrit

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

I was going to watch this on BBC4 but the first episode was so bad I switched off pretty quick and watched the video clips on the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World website instead. At least you could hear whole arias on the site but it’s still only one aria so I can’t review this really properly. The singers were hardly in the TV episode and I just don’t think that’s right. You just got a short clip then you had to listen to people like Connie Fisher giving musical analysis. I mean what does she know about opera? She admitted it was only her second operatic experience and the highlight of the first one seems to have been kissing Bryn Terfel. Er that’s nothing to boast about! I mean okay maybe if I got kissed by Anna Netrebko I’d boast about it but I’d say something about her singing too.

Then there was Elin Manahan Thomas, she said she didn’t want to do BBC Singer of the World because it would be too scary. Yeah okay respect to her for being honest, it probably is scary and at least she’s a proper opera singer but it did seem a bit dumbed down and I don’t think it was fair for her to say stuff about arias we didn’t get to hear. But to be honest if you think about it I probably don’t know what I’m talking about more than she does and I’m giving you my opinions so why shouldn’t she? I wish they’d got a more experienced singer in though who had something really interesting to say. She was also a bit bitchy but all critics get like that sometimes, read this paragraph again if you don’t believe me.

Oh yeah, I don’t actually know who won each competition and who’s in the final, I haven’t looked yet but I’ll put down who I’d want to go through if it was up to me

CONCERT 1
Etienne Dupuis, baritone, Canada
Aria – Papagena from Die Zauberflote by Mozart (character: Papageno)
Etienne really grabbed me, not literally luckily, he’s not my type but he was one of the best I thought. I wasn’t sure about the panpipes really, you could have got the orchestra to do that, it was a bit distracting and you don’t have props really in this sort of concert I don’t think. But it is an important part of the character and Etienne got into the character really well. He’s also really funny. In the bit where Papageno decides to hang himself from a tree it’s like he was looking at the tree and you could almost believe there was a real tree there. I really liked his voice too, he really put the acting into his voice too and there was something really likeable about him in a pathetic sort of way. He reminded me a bit of Gerald Finley actually, Canada has produced some great baritones.

Dana Bramane, soprano, Latvia
Aria - C'est des contrebandiers ... Je dis que rien ne m'epouvante from Carmen by Bizet (Micaela)
The ending was my favourite part, I don’t mean that in a bad way it’s just the end where she really brought all the acting into it. She could have had all that stuff in from the beginning though and I think it would have been even better. It was a bit flat, I don’t mean that in the out of tune way, it just didn’t have as much emotion a lot of the time. Actually Elin Manahan Thomas said pretty much the same thing but that doesn’t mean we’re right.

Fernando Javier Rado, bass, Argentina
Aria - Non piu andrai from Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart(Figaro)
There seemed to be a lot of basses around this year. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or if they were chosen because the last winner was a bass but I really liked Fernando. You need loads of personality for this but Fernando’s really got it. He wasn’t always totally in with the orchestra but I liked his voice and he really got the style. He wasn’t running about all over the stage like a lot of Figaros are when they do this aria but there was something about the movement he did do that made him seem really energetic.

Emiliya Ivanova, soprano, Bulgaria
Aria – Je veux vivre from Romeo et Juliette by Gounod (Juliette)
Juliette sings this when she first meets Romeo. Maybe sometimes she was holding back a bit but it was all really exciting, well it was exciting in two different ways, you really got caught up in the drama and in the music too. She looked really sexy too, not just because she’s hot, it was the way she was singing the music too.

Eri Nakamura, soprano, Japan
Aria - Dieu! quel frisson ... Amour, ranime mon courage from Romeo et Juliette by Gounod (Juliette)
Eri was singing the same Juliette as Emiliya but she sang a different aria. She sang a different Juliette at the ROH a couple of months ago, Bellini’s one because Anna Netrebko dropped out of some performances. I don’t know how she did with that but in this aria she was so good I don’t think I spent the whole time looking down her top. She’s a really great singer but also a great performer, she was totally into the character and it was just like so exciting. Another thing I like about her is apparently she was looking forward to meeting the audience. I don’t think I’ve really heard a singer say that before but Eri seems just totally down to earth. Yes okay she’s hot too.

MY WINNER, CONCERT 1: Eri Nakamura. I think Concert 1 has some of the best singers in it and I reckon if some of them had been in a different group they’d have won it but my vote has to go to Eri because of how exciting her performance was.

CONCERT 2
Dawid Kimberg, baritone, South Africa
Aria - Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen from Die tote Stadt by Korngold (Fritz)
One of the things they talked about on the programme was what you had to do to do well in this competition. If I was a judge singers who sang songs I liked probably would have a bit of an advantage because I’m not a very good judge. Not my favourite songs, I’d probably be extra fussy about how those should be performed and songs you hate are just annoying. Unfortunately the aria Dawid sang is one I hate. So you see, judging is really hard work because you’re not supposed to let things like that affect you. I tried to be really neutral and I do think Dawid’s got a really nice voice. There didn’t seem to be anything that really stood out in his performance but maybe that’s partly because I hate the opera.

Ji-Min Park, tenor, Korea
Aria - Firenze è come un albero fiorito from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini (Rinuccio)
Okay I did the first bit of the review yesterday, I’m doing the rest on the day of the final concert. They’ve probably announced who’s in the final so I’m not going on the site because I don’t want to know yet. So it’s possible I might not get the aria titles spelt right because I can’t check on the site and I don’t know if I’ll be able to find it on Google. So if I’ve got it wrong don’t blame me, blame the BBC because I just don’t trust them not to blab it. Like they announce Cup Final results on Match of the Day just before ITV shows the highlights, it’s just totally not on.

But anyway Ji-Min Park is a Korean pop singer who decided to have a go at opera and ended up on the Young Artists’ Programme at the ROH. He must have liked it because he’s a Jette Parker Principal next season. The translation of his aria was weird, at one point he says Schicchi is a wag and I don’t think so somehow although if you think about it you can kind of imagining him dressing up as a woman and getting a footballer to marry him, he does dress up as a dead man after all and footballers aren’t exactly clever. But Ji-Min was pretty good, nice sound and he knows how to do all the grand dramatic Puccini stuff but it’s not exactly a great aria, it’s a bit dull.

Anna Stephany, mezzo-soprano, England
Aria - Dopo notte from Ariodante by Handel (Ariodante)
I think I’ve seen Anna once and I have heard of her but I don’t know much about her really. It’s weird, last time they had Elizabeth Watts from the ENO Young Artists’ Programme and the time before that they had Andrew Kennedy from the ROH Young Artists’ Programme (and they both won the Song Prize) and the thing about them was that I’d seen them loads of times and in some ways it’s more fun supporting a singer you know already.

But Anna is someone I’d like to see more of, she was really good, in some ways it was a bad choice of song because Ariodante is a bloke and she’s standing there in this posh dress but you kind of got used to that after a few lines, why shouldn’t Ariodante be a transvestite? She’s a great Handel singer though, all the coloratura bits were really easy for her and she’s got that very smooth tone that’s just right for early music, not a lot of vibrato. There wasn’t a lot of acting going on but I don’t think it needed it really.

Octavio Moreno, baritone, Mexico
Aria: Avant de quitter ces lieux from Faust by Gounod (Valentin)
In some ways I didn’t like this because it was quite still and serious and not much emotion and a bit like restrained in some ways but I think that’s probably the right way to sing it. It’s a very serious moment for the character, leaving his sister is obviously a big thing for him but so is going away to fight for his country. I like his voice though but he’s one of the ones where I really wish I’d heard his other arias because you can’t tell from this aria how good he is at expressing emotion.

Ekaterina Shcherbachenko, soprano, Russia
Aria: Puskai pogilabnu ya, no pryezhde from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky (Tatyana)
Or the Letter Scene as most normal people call it. This one’s a bit risky because it’s so long and if you mess it up you haven’t got much time left to impress the judges. She sounded a bit breathless at the start but I thought that was probably acting and it must have been really or she never could have got to the end. As it was a concert she stayed still and didn’t wander about all over the stage but you kind of got all that restlessness from her without it.

I liked what she was doing during the orchestral bits too, she still stayed mostly still but she still managed to express a lot of emotion. I thought there was some bits where she could have slowed it down a bit and like drawn it out a bit but she probably literally didn’t have time. Her voice was good too especially in the lyrical bits and it didn’t matter that she wasn’t really writing a letter, you didn’t need that.

MY WINNER CONCERT 2: This was a hard one, I had trouble choosing between Anna Stephany and Ekaterina Shcherbachenko but in the end I decided to go for Ekaterina Shcherbachenko because she created a really great piece of drama as well as a great bit of singing but it supported her singing rather than distracting you from it. I changed my mind about this so many times though.

CONCERT THREE
Tomislav Lucic, bass, Croatia
Aria – Madamina, il catagolo e questo from Don Giovanni by Mozart (Leporello)
Or the Catalogue Aria. Often you’ll go to Don Giovanni and Leporello will be a baritone which is totally fine if he can sing all the notes and it does make it easier to see how Donna Elvira might get them confused but Leporello is usually described as a bass role so it was good to hear it sung by a real bass.

Tomislav sang it really well, it was in tune and even though his voice was quite big for Mozart he did the style really well. He was also funny but it wasn’t really obvious humour like he was trying to show-off how funny he is, it was quite subtle, not lol funny and even though his facial expressions and actions came into it it was also about what he was doing with his voice to make it funny.

Izabela Matula, soprano, Poland
Aria: Bel raggio lusinghier, Semiramide (Sermiramide)
I thought it was good Izabela had chosen this aria, there are loads of better-known arias she could have sung but I liked hearing something different. There are loads of arias that are sung every year by more than one singer, this was like a bit unexpected.

So I wish she’d sung it a bit better really. She’s got a nice voice but her coloratura was a bit dodgy and it was supposed to be a happy song, it just seemed like she was working really hard. But seriously I am being a bit fussy, I’ve been to loads of Rossini concerts where the main soprano just couldn’t do the coloratura, Izabela definately isn’t the worst I’ve ever heard, no way.

Csaba Szegedi, baritone, Hungary
Aria: Deh, vieni alla finestra from Don Giovanni by Mozart (Don Giovanni)
Also known as the Window Aria. Don Giovanni has three arias, the Window Aria, the Champagne Aria and the Other Aria. Csaba sang the Window Aria and he was a really slimey Don Giovanni, his singing was really smooth and it was like he was getting turned on by himself even if the girl he was singing to wasn’t. I thought it was quite funny. It wasn’t badly sung, a bit one-dimensional really but the way he’d interpreted the character, he kind of had to be.

But the kiss at the end, that was way over the top. If he thought he was going to charm his way into the final he’s got the wrong idea about competitions. If he was auditioning for a part in an opera it would be okay, you can get a part just by sleeping with the right people I reckon, just like any other job. But I don’t think it’s the way to go with judges.

Yuriy Mynenko, counter tenor, Ukraine
Aria: Parto, parto from La clemenza di Tito by Mozart (Sesto)
Okay yes I know it’s a bit pathetic, it’s not like he’s the first counter tenor I’ve ever heard but he is the first I’ve ever heard singing a top B and maybe I did think he was totally cool when I was watching him. But I’m over that now, I’ve thought about it and he wasn’t bad or anything but he wasn’t brilliant either. It is a bit high for him and the Mozart style wasn’t there for me. But I am really glad I got to hear it, it was really interesting and he was one of the singers I enjoyed listening to most in a way but I don’t think he was that great really.

Claire Meghnagi, soprano, Israel
Aria: Non Monsieur, mon mari from Les Mamelles de Tirésias by Poulenc (Therese)
I’d never heard of this opera before but I want to see it, it’s just so totally mad, it’s about this woman who turns into a bloke, her breasts fly off and everything which isn’t usually the sort of thing I’d go for but somehow it’s a really sexy song and it’s just so funny. Her breasts didn’t really break free unfortunately but she was so involved in the song and she got the audience so involved as well you could almost believe they did. If I was a judge and this girl’s breasts broke free from her dress I would quite want to give her extra marks even though it’s not really right but seriously Claire’s marks must be so high already. She seemed to be enjoying singing more than the others but she did have the funniest song and she had the comedy skills to pull it off, I bet even the judges laughed, I bet you anything.

MY CONCERT 3 WINNER: Well you can probably guess, it’s Claire Meghnagi and her breasts. If they ever do decide to break free I’d be happy to grab them for her, so she didn’t lose them I mean.

CONCERT FOUR
Katharine Tier, mezzo-soprano, Australia
Aria - In Treibhaus, Wesendonk Lieder No.3 by Wagner
This was a weird choice in a way because it’s not opera. But even though it’s Lieder she couldn’t really sing it for the Song Prize because it needs an orchestra. I’m not really much into Wagner, it’s a bit long but as it this was only a short bit I didn’t mind too much.

I didn’t like the song but I still thought it was a good performance. She’s got a big voice, not exactly what you’d call beautiful but not the sort to give you a headache either and she was one of the people who kind of made me forget I was listening to a young singer competition, it was just like I was listening to a singer. In a way I don’t think there’s any difference between singers in a competition and singers in an ordinary concert performance but in a way at a competition you’re kind of comparing the singers all the time, you don’t do that in an ordinary concert or opera. So if a singer makes you forget about comparing, forget there’s going to be a winner at the end, I think it’s a sign they’re very good and that’s what Katharine did.

Javier Arrey, baritone, Chile
Aria - Largo al factotum from Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini (Figaro)
I wasn’t sure about him entering the auditorium after the music has started, that’s what you do in the staged opera and when Jonathan Summers sang it at a concert he walked through the audience, well no actually he ran through the audience so the walking in singing is kind of part of the aria. But in a competition like this it might get people’s attention if you do something you wouldn’t usually do in a competition but it’s easy to imagine the judges not liking it because once you’ve done that you’re pretty much semi-staging it and it’s supposed to be a concert. I bet some judges would love it but it’s a bit of a risk isn’t it? And probably part of what they’re judging on is how a singer walks into the auditorium, how they stand as they wait for the song to start and in the introduction to the aria, and they didn’t get to see it with Javier for this aria because he wasn’t like there.

I don’t know if this is what he sang first or what but I thought when he finally did get to the front of the stage he was vocally a bit wobbly. So if this was his first view of the audience maybe he got there and thought oh s*** there’s millions of them and it threw him off for a bit or maybe he hadn’t practised his entrance enough and so he was slightly uncomfortable when he got to the front. He got better after that though. He’s got a big voice and you can tell he’s got Figaro’s personality and energy and the fast section really suits him.

Natalya Romaniw, soprano, Wales
Aria: Adieu notre petite table from Manon by Massenet (Manon)
Yes really, she is actually Welsh. She’s got a Welsh accent and everything. She seems like a really nice normal girl, I mean normal in a good way, a down to earth not even slightly up her own a*** sort of way.

Natalya’s got a great voice but it was like she lost control of it a little bit a few times. Her physical acting was good, you could see Manon’s character in her face and stuff but it wasn’t always in her voice too. I did like her though, even when she’s all done up with her makeup and her posh dress there’s something very likeable about her.

Vira Slywotzky, soprano, USA
Aria: Do not utter a word from Vanessa by Barber (Vanessa)
Not exactly the most American name you ever heard. I don’t know what the most American name I’ve ever heard is but it’s not Vira Slywotzky. None of the English-speaking singers so far have the sort of name you’d expect, Anna Stephany doesn’t sound totally English because it’s got an accent over the e in Stephany like é but I can’t be a**ed to put it in every time so I haven’t. And Katharine Tier sounds more German than Australian.

I don’t know much about the opera Vanessa but from this the character seems to be a bit demented but then so’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Lady Macbeth and millions of others. There wasn’t anything about the voice that really like grabbed me but I liked the end, I don’t know how to describe it but that was a really strong moment.

Jan Martinik, bass, Czech Republic
Aria: Ves tabor spit from Aleko by Rakhmaninov (Aleko)
Another one I’ve never heard of but I like the title. He had some dodgy moments but there was lots of passion and he just looked so sad, poor bloke. I’m sure he was just acting but it was very convincing I thought. He does go on a bit, maybe Jan could have varied his singing a bit more but maybe that would have seemed wrong because people don’t usually get that animated when they’re that sad. Another deep dark bass type.

MY WINNER CONCERT 4: This was a hard one, they were all very individual singers who stood out in different ways and had different strong points but I’m going to go for Katharine Tier, anyone who can sing something I don’t like and hold my interest must be pretty special.

CONCERT FIVE
Wade Kernot, bass, New Zealand
Aria: Madamina, il catagolo e questo from Don Giovanni by Mozart (Leporello)
I did feel a bit like not this one again, in some ways if they’re only showing one aria from each person I don’t think they should show the same aria twice really. But I liked it because it was totally different from the other one. I didn’t think he should have had that bit of paper as the catalogue, it’s not nearly big enough for one thing, you wouldn’t get 3000 girls on that. And I think you don’t really need props, 2 of the people I liked best were people who made you believe props were there when they weren’t.

I liked his interpretation though and he was the one where I really noticed how Italian his singing sounded. He was a kind of evil Leporello who was laughing about the catalogue and really enjoying boasting about Don Giovanni. You could imagine him singing the Don too although he is a bass so maybe he can’t.

Helen Kearns, soprano, Ireland
Aria: Chanson du Rossignol from Le rossignol by Stravinsky (Rossignol)
Finally an English-speaking singer who doesn’t sound foreign. Not that there’s anything wrong with sounding foreign, I’m just saying. Not that I’m totally sure how to pronounce Kearns either.

I’ve heard this aria before and it was such a screechy mess I’d better not tell you who sung it because that would be mean but Helen was great. The opening was just her on her own without the orchestra but if anything she was best in these bits. She just sang really brilliantly and her voice was always well-controlled. She was a sexy nightingale, teasing nightingale, a kind of come and get me nightingale. Totally my kind of bird really.

Giordano Luca, tenor, Italy
Aria: È la solita storia del pastore from L'arlesiana by Cilea (Federico)
This was another one I didn’t know, it was nice to hear a tenor, I’d almost forgotten they existed, there were only 2 in the whole competition if I counted right. I’m surprised, there are loads of good young tenors and they’re usually developed earlier than basses and the only person ever to win the Main Prize and the Song Prize was a tenor. I thought Giordano sang very well with lots of passion. It seemed sort of like effortless for him. He didn’t really do it for me but then he is a guy.

Marc Canturri, baritone, Andorra
Aria: Mab, la reine des mensonges from Romeo et Juliette (Mercutio)
This is the first time ever Andorra has had a singer in the competition. Not every country gets one in every year, there weren’t any Scottish singers this time, Hairy is shocked of course but maybe none of them wanted to pay the train fare to Wales.

Marc is a baritone but the sound of his voice kept making me think he was a tenor, maybe my ears were going, I did watch most of these in one go on the website. I think this is supposed to be a funny song but I didn’t really get it. Marc’s tone sounded quite similar all the way through but maybe it just seemed like that because I just didn’t get the song. I know I’ve said this before but they should have put all his songs on the website, I might have thought his other 2 songs were the best things in the whole competition, I do like his voice a lot, he sounds like a tenor but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Dora Rodrigues, Portugal, soprano
Aria: Ich weiss es selber nicht ... Meine Lippen sie küssen so heiss from Giuditta by Lehar (Giuditta)
I thought I was going to like this song a lot because it sounds a bit naughty but maybe I was tired or something, I didn’t think Dora quite got the operetta style. She was quite sexy though, you just got the odd look now and then that hinted at it. I think maybe she played it safe a bit, she could have gone for it more. Good voice though.

CONCERT 5 WINNER: It’s got to be Helen Kearns for me.

FINALISTS
The finalists just have to be the 5 best, not the 5 concert winners. So this is who I’ve chosen. I bet the judges will choose something different but this is what I think, when I’ve posted this I’ll go and see who the judges chose, I didn’t want to see it before in case they influenced me. 3 of my choices picked themselves you see but it was harder choosing the other 2 and if I’d looked at the site and one of the one I liked was one they’d chosen I might let that help me choose because that’s a lot less trouble than working it out for myself. But I didn’t look and it took me ages but I got there eventually and these are the 5 I’d put in the final if it was up to me.

Etienne Dupuis, baritone, Canada
Emilya Ivanova, soprano, Bulgaria
Claire Moghogi, soprano, Israel
Eri Nakamura, soprano, Japan
Katharine Tier, mezzo-soprano, Australia

Okay yes 4 of them are girls, there’s probably a reason for that.

FitCrit

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

Yeah ok I’m bunking off my revision again (or dogging my revision as the Scots say but that sounds a bit dodgy to me) but actually this is kind of like revision because it’s writing which is English and it’s about opera which is music and it’s all stuff I’m going to see next year so it’s planning for the future isn’t it which my teachers say is really important. I won’t do them all though, I’ll do it till I get bored then I’ll come back to it another time.

LINDA DI CHAMOUNIX**
Okay so it’s the first opera of the season and they want to get people interested again, remind us there’s still opera around so what do they do? They pick an opera no-one’s ever heard of and they fill it with singers no-one’s ever heard of. I mean I know who Alessandro Corbelli and Elizabeth Sikora are and the fact they’re in it means this opera is probably funny but who are Eglise Gutierrez (any relation to the Newcastle player?) and Marianna Pizzolato? Never heard of them but to be honest the ROH usually knows what it’s doing when it’s bringing in unknowns, it’s just the big stars who can demand any role they want who are the problem. Oh yes I should mention the conductor, it’s Mark Elder, I don’t think Rossini’s his best composer but luckily this isn’t be Rossini, it’s Donizetti.

I’m giving this 2 stars because the ROH has done a few concert performances of unknown operas and they’ve all been a bit s*** really but maybe it’ll be brilliant, who knows, well Hairy knows but I haven’t asked him. He hasn’t been going to the opera lately because he’s been worried about the financial crisis and I’ve been revising and the operas are all sold out anyway. It’s our fault, we shouldn’t write such good reviews, they never sold out before but now everyone wants to go.

DON CARLO****
Not this one again! Yeah okay it’s not that bad but they only did it like 5 minutes ago, there’s loads of operas they haven’t done for millions of years I want to see again like Die Entfuhrung and Peter Grimes and Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth and Rosenkavalier and okay I can’t think of any more but there are loads okay?

Jonas Kaufmann sings the title role, he should be good, he’s a good singer and he can do all the acting so he might be able to make some of the plot make sense, you never know. Marina Poplavskaya sings Elisabetta again, she used to be a Young Artist but now she’s a major guest star. She didn’t really get into the character last time I don’t think but she was very young to be singing the role, she’s older now so she should be better at it. But even if she’s not that good she’s still hot so as long as you’re attracted to girls you’ll like her bits.

Simon Keenlyside comes back as Rodrigo, he’s good and it’s a tragedy so there’s no chance of him overdoing the comedy. Then you’ve got Ferruccio Furlanetto is King Philip, he’s like one of the most experienced singers around and loads of Young Artists who are mostly just out of music college. Semyon Bychov is the conductor bloke.

TRISTAN UND ISOLDE**
Does anyone seriously sit through the whole of Wagner operas? I mean, I’ve sat through them all on the radio but I do other things at the same time like texting people and shagging my girlfriends and putting my computer desk against the door so my brother can’t come in. But there’s no way I’d want to waste a whole 6 hours just sitting there in the opera house, I’d probably end up doing something really awful like revising in my head.

But if you don’t have a life you might quite like this. Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme are supposed to be signing the character roles but Ben cancels appearances sometimes. Nina sang Isolde for Glyndebourne when I was 12 I think and all the critics were like, her voice is gleaming and I was like you what, voices don’t gleam. Then I listened to it on the radio (not all of it, just a few scenes, that’s enough when you’re listening to Wagner) and I decided they probably had a point this time. Antonio Pappano is the conductor so things could be a lot worse.

CARMEN***
Roberto Lasagne sings Don Jose but don’t worry, that vampire woman isn’t in it and Lasagne isn’t that bad really, he’s just not nearly as good as people think he is. Elina Garanca is Carmen, she’s pretty good, not my type usually but everyone’s my type when they sing Carmen except Angela Goo Goo and Maria Ewing. Ildebrando d’Arcangelo is Escamillo, he should be good but his scene will be great anyway because you’re just waiting to see if his horse craps himself onstage. Bertrand de Billy is conducting and it’s a good sexy production if you can ignore Lasagne.

L’HEURE ESPAGNOLE/GIANNI SCHICCHI**/*
These two were performed together a few years ago and I reckon they work. The music is quite different, they don’t fit together like Cav & Pag but it works. L’Heure espagnole is brilliant, it’s about this woman who’s trying to hide her boyfriends from her husband and each other. Christine Rice is in it again, she’s just so funny and you’d have to be dead not to fancy her. Or gay. Christopher Maltman, Yann Beuron and Andrew Shore are three of her blokes.

Gianni Schicchi isn’t quite as good because everyone’s a bit dodgy so it’s like the singers have to work quite hard to make you like them. But Thomas Allen is Gianni Schicchi this time, he could probably play Iago and you’d still think he was cool.

Maria Bengtsson and Stephen Costello are Lauretta (Schicchi’s daughter) and Rinuccio (her bloke), even if you’ve never been to the opera before you’ll know Lauretta’s aria. What you might not know is that she’s actually like saying she’s going to kill herself if Schicchi won’t let her go out with Rinuccio, she’s well sneaky, she takes after her dad. Hairy will like this, I think Janis Kelly and Marie McLaughlin are both Scottish.

ARTAXERXES****
Anither opera I’ve never heard of but it’s probably still worth a listen. Ian Page is the conductor and the Orchestra of the Classical Opera Company does the music and they’re always great and if Ian’s doing the pre-performance talks they’re worth seeing because he really knows his stuff and he can make it funny.

Christopher Ainslie sings the title role, he’s a counter tenor but he doesn’t sing falsetto, I know that because he wrote to me and told me. He’s very cool and a really great singer, you know some counter tenors honk or just sound totally gay? He doesn’t. (nothing wrong with being gay but most main bloke characters just can’t be because they’ve got girlfriends) I would say go and see him but if I do that it’ll sell out so don’t go and see him okay, not till I’ve got a ticket.

Elizabeth Watts is singing Mandane and she’s another reason why I’m not telling you to go. She’s just so hot and so funny. She’s not a castrato either, at least I don’t think she is, I’ve never had the chance to check unfortunately but she’s a total babe and a really great early music singer, top choice from the ROH. And Rebecca Bottone is Semira, she took her kit off in Powder Her Face, maybe she’ll do it again.

FitCrit

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

by Sophie, guest blogger, more regular than the oficial bloggers atm tho!

Her Majesty’s Theatre

I saw this once ages ago and I thought it was so boring. Then I saw it again last week and I loved it. It’s probably always worth seeing something again if you can. Maybe it was my mood on the day, maybe it was the performers, maybe my taste has just changed. But I’m really glad I saw it again. I’d like to see it again one day but I wouldn’t want to see it every month like Grease, it’s really quite a disturbing musical. I wouldn’t want to see something disturbing like that every month but I also wouldn’t like it to lose its effect which it might do if I’m always watching it.

If you read my Joseph review you’ll know I’m not a big Andrew Lloyd Webber fan. He doesn’t really do it for me and one tune per musical if that isn’t enough for me. But Phantom of the Opera has at least five really good tunes. So what I’m thinking is, maybe Andrew Lloyd Webber is more interested in creating sell-out musicals than in creating the most beautiful music he possibly can. In some ways that’s a really sensible attitude to have. Ask Hairy. And if that’s Lloyd Webber’s aim he’s been more than successful.

Most of this musical as you might guess it set in an opera house and lots of the characters are opera singers including the main female character Christine Daae although if you’re going to get really technical she’s a ballet dancer who happens to have a voice but she does become an opera star. And the Phantom of the Opera writes an opera.

For the scenes where the characters are actually singing in operas Lloyd Webber has written some opera music. It is supposed to be a take-off of the opera of the time Phantom is set and okay it’s not the greatest opera music in the world but I think it’s really lovely and I’ve certainly heard a lot worse. Yes Richard Wagner I mean you. The only bit of opera music which doesn’t sound operatic is the ‘aria’ Think of Me which still sounds like something from a musical even when Carlotta (a real opera singer played by a real opera singer) is singing it. But I suppose I can see why he did it, at that point he needed a showstopper and it needed to be the sort of showstopper that a conventional musical audience would like so it couldn’t be too operatic.

But even though Think of Me doesn’t sound operatic to me I still think it’s a really lovely song and it’s still stuck in my head along with about 4 other songs. Phantom of the Opera has really beautiful music. And there are bits of it that remind me of opera. Occasionally you’ll get a phrase that sounds a bit like Puccini (to me). Then there’s these two comic characters called Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur Andre who are totally hilarious and they’re like something out of Gilbert & Sullivan. They’re played by Barry James and Gareth Snook and they both have really lovely voices. Some people seem to think if you’re doing comedy you can’t do it with a beautiful tone but that’s so not true.

A few members of the cast have been in operas before. Ramin Karimloo who plays the Phantom has been in The Pirates of Penzance (I seriously can’t imagine him in that) but his voice does sound slightly operatic, it’s quite a dark voice which suits the character really well. He was very very creepy and disturbing but there was something compelling about him and it makes sense that Christine would be so drawn to him even when she’s got a really gorgeous boyfriend.

The role of Christine is shared, I saw Robyn North. She’s got a lovely voice, it’s quite small and thin but very beautiful and it’s right for the character because she’s quite mysterious and slightly strange. Her voice does sound a bit strained on the top notes but not in a bad way and she would get them fine if her diction wasn’t so perfect all the time. I found her quite easy to identify with because she’s quite weird and spaced out half the time but I think other people would find her quite sweet and appealing. One thing about Robyn, she really LOVES the musical. She had the biggest smile when she came to take her curtain call. If anything I’d expect the singer playing Christine to be really exhausted mentally and physically too (it’s a big sing) after such an emotional performance but she looked so happy, maybe even exhilarated. I suppose it’s possible another cast member gave her a quick one while the ensemble were having their curtain call but it would have had to be at lightning speed. So I think she just gets off on singing Christine which isn’t totally mad because she gets gorgeous music and a really interesting character.

Christine’s boyfriend Raoul was played by Simon Bailey. He was really sexy but I didn’t like it when the Phantom made him hang himself although I think he would have been quite happy to die in that bit when Christine kisses the Phantom. He seems really nice and not too tough, it means Christine has to sort things out herself without this man coming in and doing everything for her, it’s not very realistic to have a competent man after all. Simon has a really nice voice too.

Kate Radmilovic who played Carlotta is a real opera singer, she’s sung Violetta, Queen of the Night, Mimi, Alcina, Lady Billows, all sorts of different roles. She isn’t the best opera singer I’ve ever heard, you can hear better at the ROH and ENO and places like that but if you think about it Kate’s got to sing Carlotta 8 times a week and it is quite a big role and not an easy one, you should hear what she sings when she first enters, it’s not exactly the easiest entrance in the world. Then she’s got to shriek and stuff and do speaking sections which is really hard on your voice (I’m not very convinced by her Italian accent but as she’s a Welsh-Croat I’ll let her off but I’m still not letting Katherine Jenkins off, she might be Welsh but she’s still a crap singer). Most opera singers only perform 2 or 3 times a week and if they did 8 times a week they probably wouldn’t sound at their best either. And besides Carlotta shouldn’t be as good as Christine or it’s a bit unfair really. But I still thought Kate was really good and very funny and realistic too, there are millions of sopranos who walk around with their heads up their arses, I’ve seen them.

Tori Johns plays Meg Giry, I’m not sure why she’s called Meg when she’s French as it’s a Welsh name, well it is when it’s short for Megan. Tori is a trained ballet dancer who (looking at her biography) doesn’t seem to have had any singing training but she has a really lovely voice, a very little voice but very beautiful and her music is well-sung and of course she can do all the dancing brilliantly although I don’t think dancers really stand around in fifth position like that because it hurts although so does dancing around in ballet slippers with chunks of wood in the toes. One thing about Meg though, even though I think the final image in the musical is really good I don’t know why it’s Meg who does it. First of all, what’s she doing poking around the Phantom’s lair anyway? Okay maybe she’s part of Christine’s rescue party but why are they letting her search on her own? The Phantom’s already abducted one girl. Maybe we’re supposed to think there’s something going on between him and Meg which might explain how she knows Christine can sing opera but it’s more likely she just heard her. So I don’t get that bit but it does look really good.

Heather Jackson plays Meg’s mum Madame Giry, she’s scary but you do end up feeling for her and she’s got a really good contralto voice. Then there’s loads of people in smaller roles and I don’t remember all of them but everyone was good. They even had scary smells, it might have been an accident but there was one bit where there was a really musty smell, like something was dead under my seat (I didn’t look), then there was a hospital smell like a disinfectant, it was horrible but if the smells were done on purpose it was really clever and original and if it was an accident they should do it every night.

It’s a really good evening out if you’re in the mood to be scared or if you just want to hear some beautiful music. But don’t go on your own and don’t go if you’ve got a heart condition because it’s just too terrifying.

Piccadilly Theatre

(by Sophie not Cunning Little Vixen, Sophie)

edit oh and read this review here by amanda, i dont agree with it all but its a good review with lots of stuff I forgot to mention. I don't know why she's given it 1 star coz its a really positive review. If Ray and Emma did happen to come on here and read what I wrote about them at least they'll have something good to read too.

Well what can I say? I’m never going to complain about Danny Bayne and Nicola Brazil again.

Ray Quinn is a great singer and an amazing actor but he hid it well. You could tell he’s a great dancer and it’s great to see a Danny who really is a worthy winner of the dancing contest – Ray does seem to be just as good as the excellent dancers in the ensemble. As for the character, he’s got the obnoxious part perfectly and it’s easy to believe he really likes Sandy but the thing about Danny is, we need to like him despite everything. Danny Bayne’s Danny is a prat but he’s a prat with charm and whilst Stuart Ramsay’s Danny is a bit of a wanker you forgive him because the next minute you’re wetting yourself because he’s so funny. Ray can’t do Danny’s geeky laugh (not his fault, I can’t do it either) but if he can’t do that geeky laugh he needs to make up another one.

And his singing… well I know Ray is a good singer so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was doing all that crooning, weird staccatos and dodgy note values on purpose. But it’s not right. Not for Sandy (the song I mean). It’s a song about emotions, it’s not the time to show off all the fancy things you can do with your voice. Sing it with simplicity and make it sound beautiful and I’m sure it’s not just me who’ll be a lot more moved. I’m sure Ray is capable of doing it.

As for Emma Stephens as Sandy it would be really unfair to say she sang flat all the time because quite a lot of the time she was sharp. She did sing ‘You’re the One that I want’ well as this does suit her voice and it is nice to have a Sandy who can hit the low note so easily in the opening duet. But anything more lyrical, anything too fast and she couldn’t quite do it. And why should she be able to do it? She’s only twenty-three which is really young to be singing a leading role in a big West End theatre (maybe Ray is too young as well, his voice is really well developed for a twenty year old but maybe not developed enough). Emma’s voice sounded pressured which might be a sign of a bad night (her understudy wasn’t available) or it might be a sign she’s working it too hard. Eight shows a week is a lot.

I quite like how Emma performs the role though. She’s so unbearably sweet and gives such a strong impression of trying too hard to be nice, it’s easy to believe there is a sexy Sandy lurking under there somewhere. But she didn’t seem totally fake, more like one of those people who hasn’t got the confidence to be herself. And she’s an amazing dancer. She doesn’t do a lot of dancing but you can tell

Faye Brookes (the new Frenchy) wasn’t there and presumably Alison Hefferon and Sophie Zucchini (her understudies) weren’t ready go on as Frenchy so Emily Bull came back. I hope Faye’s better soon but it was a really lovely surprise to see Emily. She was even better than I remembered. Yes Frenchy’s shallow and she cares about her appearance too much and she’s not the most intelligent character in the world but she’s a really nice person. Benjamin Ibbott was gorgeous as Doody. I couldn’t get the seat I wanted so he winked at someone else but I wasn’t very jealous, there’s always next time. I love the dancing he does in Greased Lightnin’.

Laura Wilson is still Jan, she’s someone I’ve moaned about but I’ve got no idea why. She was adorable and so funny. I love how she says ‘whyyyyy’ when Roger asks her if she’s got a date for the dance. Michael Melmoe is the new Roger and I’ve totally fallen in love with him. He’s one of those really cute and slightly chubby people and that suits the character of Roger really well. There’s this one scene where Roger’s eating a cheeseburger and one of his friends reminds him he’s not supposed to be eating that because it’s Friday. This is actually a Catholic thing, not eating meat on Friday, but I bet lots of people in the audience won’t know about that (he does mention Confession but even if you don’t know what that is you can probably guess) so it’s good to have a Roger who has another reason to stay away from cheeseburgers on at least one day of the week. Michael’s Roger is so sweet and he’s got a gorgeous voice, really beautiful.

I especially liked Stuart Ramsay as Kenickie this time and Natalie Langston as Rizzo, it must give them an extra energy working with new people, in a way it makes their roles different because they’re relating to the other characters in different ways. Jamie Tyler, Kristina Macmillan and Jason Capewell also stayed as Eugene, Cha Cha and Vince/Teen Angel (now Jason I don’t mind chest hair as a rule but that was scary). The only big differences are that Jamie is now covering Vince/Teen Angel as well as Doody (I think his bottom would be idea for the Angel’s silver trousers) and Kristina’s surname has changed from MacMillan to Macmillan, in parts of the programme anyway.

Robyn Mellor was Marty, she seemed a little bit posed and fake which is just what the character needs to be. She could have been identical triplets with the other Martys I’ve seen (Emma Stephens and her first cover Emma Green). Lizzi Franklin was really interesting as Patty. Emma Green’s Patty was one of those infuriatingly perky cheerleader types and Danielle Crockford (her understudy) had her own interpretation of the role but she was basically a similar type. Lizzi however is a really stroppy, sometimes sulky Patty. I really like her. Marie Daly was a surprisingly jolly Miss Lynch – it worked and in a way that made her even scarier as she changed so suddenly from happy to angry.

I don’t know the ensemble very well yet. This is the only performance I’ve been to where there weren’t any official understudies performing (which means at least one role sung by an ensemble member) although I obviously still haven’t seen a complete cast because Emily Bull replaced Faye Brookes and I don’t think Charlotte Bull (the Dance Captain, don’t know if she’s any relation to Emily) was there either. Four members of the ensemble are only covering one role and three of them are second covers so I might never see them. The ensemble member who stood out for me was the dark-haired girl with the really big smile who was mostly Downstage Left. I think she was probably Niamh Bracken, Holly Fletcher, Rebecca Hodge or Sophie Zucchini which doesn’t exactly cut it down. But she definitely wasn’t Alison Hefferon unless she’s dyed her hair.

I thought I knew who Craig Daniel Adams was because it says he played Toby in Hollyoaks but apparently he wasn’t the mad Toby who went around murdering people, he was the cringeworthy camp limpet Toby who made people want to kill him. I think Grease represents a big step up for him. Luke Jackson is now the Assistant Dance Captain. Dance Captains have to do all sorts of weird stuff and not all of it’s to do with dancing. They have to deal with all the understudies, telling them which role they’re playing and then getting them to rehearse. I think I’d like to do that. I’d be asking the girls to repeat their knicker flashing bits and then I’d have the guys doing the shower dance in their little towels all day. So I probably wouldn’t be a very good Dance Captain really. I’d be more a sort of Resident Pervert.

I’m not very observant but I did notice a couple of changes. In Greased Lightnin’, I’m pretty sure there used to be only about 4 male dancers who come onto the stage and do back flips and things but this time there seemed to be millions of them. And Jan calls Roger Porky instead of Chicken Legs.

Piccadilly Theatre

this is by Sophie, it's in Cunning Little Vixen's account and previews are usually Hairy's thing but its still Sophie I promise

Grease has got a new cast. I’m really annoyed. Why did they all have to leave before I’d seen all the understudies? I’ve still got a chance of seeing Bennett Andrews as Danny, Luke Jackson as Eugene and Charlotte Bull in whichever roles she’s covering this time (she’s done at least four) but all the others have pissed off somewhere else. I did manage to see Callun Nicol as Vince/Teen Angel the last time I went (he was really sexy).

The new Danny and Sandy were probably chosen because one of them is a good ice-skater and the other one is shagging a good ice-skater. Okay it’s not quite as bad as that because they have been in the show before as Doody and Marty. Ray Quinn is Danny and he can definitely act, sing and dance his socks off (and the rest of his clothes if he wants). It’s hard to know if Emma Stephens will be a good Sandy or not. Marty is probably the least distinctive character in the opera (for me) and she only has about one line to sing on her own so it’s hard to know how good a singer is – although she has performed leading roles in other musicals. But Emma is beautiful and an amazing dancer and she and Ray should have lots of chemistry.

But what happens if Ray and Emma break up? They’re contracted to snog each other eight times a week for the next five months. That’s a bigger commitment than marriage. And of course, they’re going on holiday at the same time. I’ll definitely come and see Grease when they’re on holiday because there’s going to be understudies everywhere and it’s going to go a long way towards making sure I can see as many understudies as possible. But I can imagine a lot of people thinking about going to see Grease, then seeing both the leads are off and deciding not to bother. Most people don’t realise the understudies are usually at least as good as the main performers. Being an understudy is a skill in its own right. It’s a bit like being a substitute in a football match. You could be called upon at any time.

I am a little bit disappointed though. No offence to Emma Stephens or Nicola Brazil the old Sandy but I’d have loved Emily Bull, formerly the first Sandy cover, to take over the leading role. Emily is my favourite Sandy ever and I wish I’d been able to see her in the role more than twice. Much as I love Grease, Sandy does get on my nerves really easily but Emily does it in just the right way not to annoy me and I really fancy her. I also really wanted to see Lucie Downer as Sandy but she’s left too. Both she and Emily are adorable Frenchys and I love the way they’re completely different characters.

Loads of people have gone. I’m sure I’ll love all the new people when I actually see them but I still think it’s really tragic so many people have left. I haven’t seen Emma Green (Patty and first Marty cover) for months because she wasn’t there last time and even though I really enjoyed Danielle Crockford’s performance (she is an understudy after all) she’s gone too. And Chloe Brooks, it amazed me that she could be such an adorable Jan yet such a terrifying Miss Lynch. I really wanted to see her as Jan again so I could make sure they really were the same person. Danny Bayne, Nicola Brazil, Kristofer Harding, Karen Aspinall, Lucy Boldero, Selina Hamilton, Tyman Boatwright, Philip Comley, Adam Maskell and Russell Smith, I’m going to miss you too.

A few people are staying though and I’m really happy one of them is Benjamin Ibbott (Doody) because the last time he was there he sang like a whole verse of Those Magic Changes to me and then he WINKED at me and I’m so going to sit in the same seat next time I go. No I’m not telling you which seat or you’ll all want to sit there. And Stuart Ramsay is covering Danny so I hope I’ll get to see him burp again and seriously the cigarettes down his trousers, does he have an extra gigantic cigarette box or what? Natalie Langston, Laura Wilson, Jason Capewell, Jamie Tyler and Kristina MacMillan, I’m glad you’re staying too.

And as for the rest of you new people, well I’m so excited! I love seeing new people in the roles, that’s what being an understudy fan is all about, seeing different people play the characters in different ways and that’s what cast changes are all about too. So when I do go (be it tonight or tomorrow night or next week or next month), I’m going to see at least SEVEN NEW VERSIONS of all the characters, not to mention some new chorus people who could be doing anything. I love watching the chorus because they’ve got characters too and even their own little storylines.

Michael Melmoe (Roger), Faye Brooks (Frenchy), Robyn Mellor (Marty), Lizzi Franklin (Patty), Marie Daly (Miss Lynch), Craig Daniel Adams, James Marshall, Damien Poole, Ryan Quish, Charles Ruhmund, Niamh Bracken, Holly Fletcher, Alison Hefferon, Rebecca Hodge and Sophie Zucchini (all chorus), I can’t wait to see you.

English Touring Opera at the Cadogan Hall

27th April 2009

The first thing that happened in this opera was that James Conway came onto the stage and did a speech which he said he hoped wouldn’t go on too long and we should let him know if it did. Well James you’ll be happy to know it didn’t. But the opera, that’s a different thing altogether. Why didn’t it start at 7 like any other long opera? Not that I minded being stuck at this station where the last train had already gone, I thought that was quite cool. But not everyone thinks like that and I was supposed to be at school for 8.30 the next day (like whose crazy idea was that?) so my parents were a bit pissed off. I’m not blaming ETO for this, I’m sure it’s a Cadogan Hall thing but maybe next time James you could be a bit more forceful with them?

Oh and I’m a bit confused mate, why would there be a different audience at Cadogan Hall from the Hackney Empire? Okay yes maybe it’s a posher area and okay yes there are some total moat owners who hang out there but seriously, how far apart are they? 4 miles maybe? You could walk that. And Sloane Square to Hackney Central, that’s not hard. You have to change at Victoria and Highbury & Islington but unless you’re a serious snob and you think you’ll get contaminated or something if you go to Hackney, I’m sure any real opera fan wouldn’t mind going an extra few miles to see an opera.

Apart from that though it was a really funny intro. If there were any real new audience people, as in this was their first opera, I bet it would have cracked the ice a bit and made them feel opera is a relaxed and friendly place after all.

Norma is all about the women. There’s these 2 girls fighting over a bloke except instead of them saying he’s mine so piss off like you’d expect they’re like really nice about it. Adalgisa’s all, you have him it’s fine and Norma’s like, no don’t worry about me I’ll top myself then you can be together. But from watching the two singers you kind of got the impression they were saying all this through their teeth and a bitch fight could break out at any moment.

Bellini wrote Norma for a soprano and Adalgisa for another soprano. This was fine but the mezzos wanted a piece of the action so they started singing Adalgisa so you got a bit more contrast in the voices. English Touring Opera though, they had to do something different. So Norma was sung by Yvonne Howard who’s a mezzo and Adalgisa was sung by Alwyn Mellor who’s a soprano which I thought was really cool.

But Yvonne Howard did fine, her range is so big she can sing soprano roles (like Norma and Lady Macbeth and Fidelio) and contralto roles (like Maddalena and Eduige and Suzuki, well I’d say they were more contralto than mezzo) and everything else in the middle and it always sounds great. She’s actually described as a soprano in the programme but like 90% of the time she’s called a mezzo and it’s more fun if Norma’s a mezzo so I’m calling her a mezzo. But there is this word sopralto which is a mix of soprano and contralto so that’s probably what she is really. She did sing the lower part when Norma and Adalgisa did their duet and I’m pretty sure Norma does the high notes normally but you never felt hang on, this doesn’t work. It was actually an amazing performance, Yvonne can not only sing every note in the female repertory (except top Fs maybe but plenty of sopranos cant sing those) it’s like she can sing in every style too and you can’t help liking her characters no matter how mad they are. So yeah, I thought she was good.

Alwyn Mellor was good as Adalgisa, she sang really well but I was kind of more on Norma’s size but the opera is called Norma so maybe you’d expect that. Even like with Don Giovanni you kind of want him to fight off the Commendatore and go and find some more girls to shag or is that just me? Her voice sounded different from Yvonne’s, she was more like a typical Bellini voice but they blended together really well.

Justin Lavender sang Pollione, the bloke they were fighting over. I thought Justin sang really well but you kind of thought, 2 powerful women like that, what do they want with him? Why not just turn lesbian? Not that I think all girls should be lesbians, it would be fun watching them but I mean, a guy has needs right?

Piotr Lempa was Oroveso, he was cool, you could tell he was the one in charge. Charne Rochford was Pollione’s mate Flavio and Helen Johnson was Norma’s mate Clotilde, they sang in the chorus too. The chorus sounded really good, there weren’t that many of them really but they made a huge sound, proper bel canto stuff.

It was a concert performance because there’s not room to do much else when you’ve got all those orchestra people but apart from the end it was like a staged performance in lots of ways because all the performers were acting, it was really intense and it was all about the characters. It was only really the fire at the end where I was really thinking, it would be better if I could see that. You didn’t need a temple or the mistletoe or any of that, even when Norma was going to kill her children you didn’t need to see them, Yvonne Howard made you believe they were there. But the end didn’t quite work for me, everything else was done so powerfully and an imaginary fire didn’t quite measure up. I didn’t mind really though, unless you’re Hairy you’d got more than your money’s worth by then hadn’t you?

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