Friday 28 March 2014

Blithe Spirit - Gielgud Theatre

It really went without saying that I'd have to go and see Blithe Spirit with Angela Lansbury when it hit the West End.  Firstly, I have always loved the film version (Margaret Rutherford was one of my favourite actresses when watching old British films on a Saturday afternoon when I was at school.  Secondly, Angela Lansbury, need I say more?

Naturally the Gielgud Theatre was packed.  After all, they all know who she is, even if they are not sure what the play is about.  <<http://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/Tickets/BlitheSpirit/BlitheSpirit.asp>>

It's a small cast and it has to be a strong cast.  The weakest link, I think, is Jemima Rooper as Elvira, the first dead wife.  She isn't brittle enough, she's a bit too 2014.  One of her best moments however is her grappling with the recently deceased, and invisible, Ruth.  Janie Dee, Ruth, and Charles Edwards, Charles, seem to fit the period style quite nicely.  Snapping at each other as the tensions rise with the arrival of Elvira.

Of course the night belonged to Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati.  Whilst still as batty as Margaret Rutherford, she carefully avoids channeling any of Rutherford's ticks and foibles.  For a woman of 88 Lansbury is agile and active, bounding around the stage to induce the spirits to join the seance.  Her timing is great and her withering looks could have curdled milk at 100 yards!

The place erupted at the curtain call, the whole audience standing.  It wasn't just for the performance, it was for Angela Lansbury!

Die Frau ohne Schatten - Royal Opera House

Well, the first thing you notice about the Royal Opera's production of Die Frau ohne Schatten (a co-production with la Scala, Milan) is that it is long, very long! Not, Wagner - but not far off! <<http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/die-frau-ohne-schatten-by-claus-guth>>

It's all a bit confusing - missing shadows, unborn children, spirit messengers - and that's just for starters.  At the end of the day it's best to just go with the flow and watch in confusion and listen to some marvellous singing.  The whole cast was very strong and the orchestra at full throttle.

I enjoyed it as an experience, but I won't go to any revivals!

Birmingham Royal Ballet - Prince of the Pagodas - London Coliseum

Gave in and went to see BRB's Prince of the Pagodas at the Coliseum.  <<http://www.eno.org/whats-on/other/the-prince-of-the-pagodas>>

I was there when the Royal Ballet first did it many, many years ago and launched the career of Darcey Bussell.  I am pretty sure I have been to at least one revival.  I have no recollection of the plot, although for some reason a map springs to mind, so the convoluted plotline for this production seemed completely new.

The designs by Rae Smith are colourful and fun, although there seems to be a blurring of which Asian country we are in.  Never mind, it looks good.

David Bintley's choreography is fine, it isn't earth-shatteringly new and it serves the music well.  Although the Salamander Prince and Princess Belle Sakura (William Bracewell and Jenna Roberts) were beautifully danced, my vote of the evening goes to Samara Downs dancing the Empress Épine.  She got the most to do, the most interesting steps and seemed like she was enjoying it.

The Royal Ballet Sinfonia did a sterling job with Britten's music and got a well-deserved cheer at the end of the night.

Thursday 13 March 2014

ENO - Rodelinda review

Another week, another opera at ENO, but this time it was a more enjoyable 'whole' affair than last week's Rigoletto!

Richard Jones' new production of Handel's Rodelinda was a much better production all round, although there were still elements that jarred or were unintentionally comic.   Some other unplanned (I hope!) humour came from the new translaton by Amanda Holden.  It is sometimes hard to stop yourself laughing when someone sings that they are bleeding after being stabbed several times!

Updated to the 1940s the plot was still easy enough to follow (for Handel!), after all, there are only seven characters and one of them - Flavio (the son Rodelinda and Bertarido) - doesn't even sing!

The orchestra - under Christian Curnyn - was in great form, but it was the cast that topped the evening.  Richard Burkhard as Garibalda was suitably evil and conniving.  Eduige, sung by Susan Bickley, was a torment of conflicted emotions.  Countertenor Christopher Ainslie had a difficult task being one of two countertenors in the opera, however, he sang and acted well.  John Mark Ainsley as Grimoaldo was well cast as the evil usurper.  Iestyn Davies as the usurped Bertarido sang beautifully (as we would expect) and his duet at the separation with Rodelinda - Rebecca Evans - was one of the highlights of the evening.  Evans was in fine voice throughout and got a huge round of applause at curtain down.

Although there was a great deal of scenery and 'business' on stage, it didn't, for a change, interfere with the singing.  This time ENO wasn't scared of letting a small cast get on with it!

<<http://www.eno.org/rodelinda>>

Monday 10 March 2014

Rigoletto - English National Opera

This is ENO's "new" Rigoletto as they have superseded the Jonathan Miller production set in the 1950s.  The Miller version was fun and it worked, I am not so sure about the new one. <<http://www.eno.org/rigoletto>>

"New" is a relative term here.  It's new to ENO, but this Rigoletto has been seen in Toronto in 2011  and at the Lyric Opera, Chicago in 2000.  It is set in a Victorian gentlemen's club and all the action takes place in the one room.  I am not a stickler for different settings for different scenes, but this unity of place made the story garbled in parts and I am really not sure why Rigoletto spends part of one scene in a chair at the front of the stage under a scarf.  Is he not there?  Is he part of the action but removed from it?  Is it just to remind us who he is?

It worries me when in a serious opera some of the nuances of the production elicit sniggers from the audience.  Should they know better or is it a failing of the mise en scène?

However, it was a good night musically.  The cast was strong and the chorus of courtiers rousing.  Barry Banks as the Duke sang well and carried of the 'big hit' (La donna è mobile) very well.  Anna Christy as Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter, had a good voice and acted well.  A couple of times I found her upper notes a bit shrill, but that could just be my ears!  Quinn Kelsey as Rigoletto was excellent.  His torment at the end, when he finds Gilda dead, was moving (although he did fling her around like a rag doll for a while!).

Despite the sniggering, the audience loved it.  The applause at the final curtain loud and sustained.

One small gripe, yet again the running time in the programme and the actual time the curtain fell differed substantially.  If my memory serves me well, this time there was an over-run of 10-15 minutes.