Pimlico Opera at the Cadogan Hall
28th September 2008
They say opera is all about music which is so not true, if it was all about the music why bother having the libretto? And the director and the set and the costumes and all that? They might as well save themselves some money and not bother hiring all these extra people. The composer can just do the music without having to follow all the rhythms and stuff in the words and the singers can just go like aaaah or ooooh all the way through. Because if opera’s all about the music it’s not exactly going to make mush difference is it?
If what they’re really trying to say is that the music is more important than everyone else I suppose they are kind of making sense most of the time but even then I’d say it’s not so much the music, it’s more about the conductor and the orchestra and the singers. Because you can go to see a really good opera and it’s still totally sh** because they’re singing it wrong. Not the wrong notes, I don’t mean that but when you get some big Wagner soprano trying to sing Pamina or something it’s just going to sound weird.
Not many people say the story’s the most important thing for them but they do have a point. If the stories weren’t important there wouldn’t be any. And there are definitely some operas where character is really important. If you went to see The Magic Flute and Papageno didn’t have any character, he just sang really beautifully, I think you’d get a bit pissed off. And what if Don Giovanni had like no sex appeal whatsoever? I mean, not that I want to fancy Don Giovanni but you’ve got to look at him and think yeah, I believe he’s shagged all those girls. And mostly with Don G you care more about that than if he can sing the Champagne Aria which most of them can’t.
I reckon Falstaff is an opera that’s a lot more about the story and the acting. You still need half-decent singers and yes okay the 2 best singers in this production were 2 of the best actors in the opera. But the other 2 really great performers weren’t really great singers and they were still 2 of the stars. And it’s not just this production, I’ve seen Falstaff at the ROH, I’ve heard the ENO one on the radio and both times I was just like really really bored. And I thought like hang on a minute, what’s wrong with this? And what I think was wrong is that the ROH Falstaff just wasn’t funny enough (I don’t get this Bryn Terfel-love I really don’t, he never does anything funny when I’m watching). The ENO Falstaff had Andrew Shore and he’s probably one of the funniest people ever if you can see him, I can’t wait to see him in The Barber of Seville again and btw Hairy if you’re reading this get you’re a*** in gear and do a preview. Andrew was probably a brilliant Falstaff. But you can’t see the funny stuff on the radio and if the music actually isn’t all that great it’s going to be crap on the radio. So he was boring.
So when I was at this Pimlico Opera production of Falstaff, I was thinking like, hilarious opera but the music’s just like a background really isn’t it? The orchestra played it really well, it was quite a small orchestra for Verdi but that was fine but it was all about what was happening on the stage. The cast were really funny so the production was funny. The music was nice enough I suppose but it’s nothing like Rigoletto or Macbeth. Fenton and Nanetta have tunes but that’s about it really. It’s not about the music, it’s about people playing tricks on each other and trying to get off with people they’re not really allowed to get off with, it’s just like real life really.
There were one or two not brilliant things so I’ll get them out of the way first. The scene changes took too long. The sets were good but they were quite simple really and I don’t think there’s any point in having all that crashing and banging as the scenery’s changed when all they’re doing is turning a few blocks round so it’s a bedroom or whatever instead of a bar. But it’s good they staged it really, a lot of operas make great concert performances and you can get away with just doing a concert performance in the Cadogan Hall because it’s quite small so they could easily not have bothered. Also I think Falstaff is one of those operas you just have to stage really because the plots quite complicated. It’s full of people hiding from each other and like having secrets and if everyone’s standing in this big long line you don’t know who’s hiding and who’s in on what secret. But as Pimlico Opera staged it you knew what was going on all the time. I didn’t get the swimming pool bit though and the girls all dressed a bit funny for swimming but they looked hot so I’m not complaining.
The other criticism thing isn’t a bad thing exactly but the Cadogan Hall is like the poshest place in London, miles posher than the ROH so you might not want to dress down.
Falstaff is supposed to be one of those roles that ruins your voice and everyone’s like, don’t sing it till you’re old. And Falstaff’s supposed to be an old bloke anyway I think. But Pimlico Opera got a young bloke to do it, David-Alexandre Borloz and he was great. He was really funny and he filled the stage up, I mean with his personality but obviously he was like massive! I reckon he had cushions stuffed up his shirt though. Even though he looked young in the close-up pics in the programme he must have had his makeup done specially because he looked well old, at least 45.
He was nearly upstaged in the first scene though, they had these 2 really brilliant blokes playing his mates who were in the pub with him, Gareth Morris as Bardolph and Hyalmar Mitrotti. They didn’t sing that well really but it didn’t matter. I thought maybe they were actors not singers and Hyalmar did train as an actor but they’re both singers so maybe it’s just difficult to sing properly if you’re jumping about all over the stage and throwing chairs around like they were. It was like, when they were onstage, you had to keep looking at them even though they weren’t in the main part of the action because they were always doing something really cool and they seemed to be having loads of fun with the characters. And Gareth was just the star of the last scene when he was wearing a wedding dress pretending to be Nanetta, you could just tell he was loving it, being funny I mean, I couldn’t tell if he enjoys wearing dresses every day but if he does that’s cool. He did this really big curtsey when he came out for his curtain call, it was well good. Only problem is though, my girlfriend fancied him and I was just like, there’s no way you’re getting me in a wedding dress. Or in any kind of wedding clothes but especially not a dress.
Oh yeah you know when I reviewed La rondine at BYO and I said Verity Parker (who was in Flight but never mind) was going to be a big star, well I was right, she sang Nanetta and she was brilliant. I know it’s only Pimlico Opera but who knows, it could be La Scala next year. Nanetta does have like tunes so she’s 1 of the characters who needs to be able to sing and seriously Verity would probably have been the best singer whoever she was in the cast with, she was that good. She’s just got a really nice voice, quite light and not very big for Verdi and I didn’t hear one dodgy note from her all evening, usually even from the best singers you hear at least one. And she’s HOT. It looks like we’ve already got a winner for the title of Best Female Bottom 2008-09.
All the Merry Wives were quite hot actually, even Mistress Quickly some of the time. Emma Carrington is just really funny, she was in Flight too with Verity, great singer and really good at playing old ladies even though she’s blonde and sexy and only a few years older than me I reckon. You should see how high Emma can lift her leg up, I bet she’s brilliant to be with.
Rebecca Cooper who sang Alice was sexy too. She’s one of the characters with actual tunes to sing, she did it really well and she was funny. Margaret Rapacioli who sang Meg was also really hot, she wasn’t quite so active onstage but that just made Meg seem quieter than Alice and she probably should be as it’s Alice who decides to pretend she’s up for it with Falstaff.
James Cleverton was great as Ford, he was really good at pretending to be someone else for Falstaff then acting all jealous when Falstaff wasn’t looking. Patrick Ashcroft sang Fenton, he really wasn’t that bad but he was doing all these love duets with Verity who’s just one of the best young sopranos around and you could kind of tell he’s not at her level yet. But he could do all the lyrical stuff and he’s got the vocal weight for Verdi. James Scarlett sang well as Dr Caius but he looked a bit young.
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