Showing posts with label London Coliseum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London Coliseum. Show all posts

Saturday, 12 November 2016

ENO: Kentridge's Lulu ★★★★

Brenda Rae in ENO's 'Lulu'  (C) Alastair Muir 
This week is another tasteful and satisfying evening out at the ENO. It is also the second time the ENO has presented a revival work, following The Pearl Fishers (click here for my review), that went down a treat in New York's Met opera house last year (click here for my review), also shown in Amsterdam as a co-production with Dutch National Opera. The formidable artistic director William Kentridge has brought his magnetically animated production of Berg's Lulu to the ENO stage, and for an English conversion it seemed to work so, so well.

 Alban Berg didn't live long enough to finish his three-act opera, and it was in the hands of Friedrich Cerha to complete the final and most ghastly act where our lead character is murdered by London's mysterious killer - Jack the Ripper. 

 The narrative of Lulu isn't, at all, complicated, yet the musical mastery of Berg's score shows the depth of his innovation, out of the Second Viennese School, with expressionist composers Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. Berg wrote his second opera, after a successful Wozzeck, during a time in Germany where women were repressed, and writing Lulu was his escapism. 
James Morris as Dr. Schöen and Brenda Rae in ENO's 'Lulu' . (C) Alastair Muir 
This modern opera (1937) is atonal and remarkable for a narrative filled with diverse voices; brimming with scandal, mistresses, clandestine relationships, sex, blood, and suicide. That said, everything is left to the audience's imagination in Kentridge's stylish production; you may see underwear and legs, but hardly a sight of nudity - the projections do the work. 

 Lulu, an alluring, yet brazenly sexual woman is loved and lusted over by many. It is her sensuality and seductive powers that bring her admirers down, yet as the opera progresses audiences see that it is the essence of her ultimate demise as well. 

 The production has various dynamic parts and components happening at the same time. The stage is a party of all sorts: mime, moving imagery, strong visuals, projections of expressionist artwork, thick paint marks, and a rainbow set that perfectly sits within the 1920-30s vintage style and couture. Audiences applauded Kentridge, Sabine Theunissen, Greta Goiris, Catherine Meyburgh and Urs Schöenbaum for their creative achievements at ENO's opening night. 

 Mark Wigglesworth drains out the best he can of the ENO Orchestra as it is his last performance as ENO's music director. The orchestra sets in motion a buttery, rich and unbroken interpretation under the baton of an exceptional conductor. 
Brenda Rae and Sarah Connolly as Countess Geschwitz in ENO's 'Lulu'. (C) Alastair Muir 

Having seen Marlis Petersen, who had mastered the role of Lulu for 20 years, at the Met Live production last year, it is hard to compare American soprano Brenda Rae for her own vigourous interpretation of the title-role. Lulu is a challenging and tough role, but Rae is consistent. Ready for each scene, she has vocal charm, yet it would have been nice to see something that stood out in her performance - something she could call her own. All of Lulu's admirers - Countess Geschwitz, a schoolboy, painter, athlete, animal tamer, Dr. Schön and Schigold - are performed by sublime soloists, Sarah Connolly, Clare Presland, Michael Colvin, David Soar, Nicky Spence, James Morris and Willard White. 

 Joanna Dudley gives a fine performance as the symbolic mime figure of Lulu's alter ego. While Lulu arouses Dr. Schön's son's Alwa, Dudley distorts her body, opening her legs but holds them in the air for minutes, suggesting she is ready to commit adultery on the same sofa her second husband bled to death. Andrea Fabi is also a bold mute figure from a black and white film that acts like a butler to the stage, helping the characters along with the narrative. 

 This is a unique and tenacious production, worth seeing, but it is three hours and 40 minutes long. The ending may receive some mixed opinions and the opera won't be to everyone's taste, yet why stick to what you like and know? Try something new and get a ticket to a unique opera which will give your brain an opera orgasm. 
Lulu is showing at the ENO until November 19th 2016. Get your tickets now here!




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Friday, 1 April 2016

Musical - London Coliseum: Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close ★★★★



"Glenn Close is ravishing. She reprises the role of Norma Desmond, making her debut in London which has won her several awards in Los Angeles and Broadway. Dressed in silks, furs and sophisticated couture, made exclusively for showbiz royalty and divas, she engages the audience’s eyes and converts them all, even those who don’t like musicals. She is a charismatic beaming star when she sings songs including ‘Surrender’, practically whispering before she gives vocal bravado to ‘As if we never said goodbye.’"

Click here to read my 5-Star review at www.LondonTheatre1.com.
https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/134953/5-star-moving-unique-ingenious-production-sunset-boulevard/






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Wednesday, 2 April 2014

**** Prince Igor - A spiritual Russian opera about war, dignity, sorrow and sexual divide - Review - London Coliseum - April 2014



 



You are in a history class when you watch ‘Prince Igor.’ Consider the current situation with President Putin and the diplomatic crisis. Before Crimea belonged to modern Ukraine its lands and borders, according to 'Prince Igor', were Russian, which proves that today's political upheaval is in fact an ongoing argument which spans from the 12th century. 


For the first time, Moscow's own Novaya Opera Company is currently performing, Alexander Borodin’s ‘Prince Igor' at the London Coliseum. It is based on a poem written anonymously named, ‘The Tale of Igor’s Campaign’ (1185 – 1187.) It tells the story of Prince Novgorod Seversky, Igor Svyatoshalvich and his defeated Russian army by the Polovtsy. Music Critic, V.V. Stasov encouraged Borodin, the chemist and music composer, to write an opera to which he thought was ‘terribly to his liking.’ Unfortunately, Borodin died before he could finish his masterpiece, which was completely by friends, Glazunov and Rimysky-Korsakov. It was first performed in 1890 at St. Petersburg.

Last night, the audience was drawn into another world, Prince Igor’s (Sergey Artamov) glorious Russia where religious omens and Christianity dominate. The opera is mythical and evidently spiritual not only from the music of Borodin and his choice of chorus but the many peculiar details that make a neatly choreographed performance from the peasants dances, standing formations and overall stage direction. A lingering 'old man' messiah that dwells on Igor's psyche also plays a big part. 

One would think the opera would hone in on royal Russian ambition, valour and honour but instead it is about a sad, despairing and anxious Prince who cries over the loss of his love and the fate of his people. Artamonov sung the beautiful aria, ‘Neither Sleep, nor rest for a tormented soul,’ which last night's captivated audience empathised with. Although, Artamonov did not sing as much as Elena Popovskaya, Prince Igor’s wife, Yaroslavna, there was an essence in his voice that identified a good and noble Prince dedicated to his country and proved to be an outstanding performance.

Popovskaya, was the sorrowful beating heart of the performance. She bestowed a strong spirited woman of Russia who even in the face of adversity stood unshaken. Yaroslavna who also suffers separation from her  Igor conveyed an unconditional love with 5 dancers behind a misty screen as she sung her aria ‘Oh, I weep’ in the final act. Popovskaya’s manages to create her own unique version of Yaroslavna and introduced an enthralling aria to add to any romantic's opera playlist. Prince Igor’s son, Vladimir (Aleksey Tatarintsev) and Konchak’s daughter, Konchakovna (Agunda Kulaeva) also give us a tasteful and passionate love duet to a starry sky in Act 2.


However, a big theme that may have caused grievance among feminists in the theatre was the misogyny and aggression towards women. The two traitors, and Gudok players, Skula (Anatoly Grigoriev) and Yeroshka (Maksim Ostroukhov) played an interesting duo as they dressed differently and sung differently which unfortunately made a bad pair of voices when it came to cheering on their debauched Prince, Galich (Dmitry Orlov.) Orlov gave a good impersonation and was not afraid to show us an alcoholic chauvinist who enjoyed kidnapping women and physically abusing them. This entailed the wine splashed on his face by Popovskaya after several attempts of making incestuous advances on her - his sister. 

Besides the mockery of women, there is another moral theme that overshadows the story, which includes Konchak (Vladimir Kudashev) kindness and warm welcoming to Prince Igor as a guest - not a captive. Despite friendship, peace and all niceties (fruits, hats, coats and women) offered, Igor still turns Konchak down adamant to conquer Polovtsy even if defeated. Yet Igor is a symbol of suffering and wallows over his present defeat and goes into a drunken frenzy as he collapses on the floor. On the opposing side, Kudashev who made his entrance via chariot and the shoulders of men sung with a presence deserving of lavish gold and black fur vestments like any successful Polovtsian king should. His people make a fuss over him as they dance and run around glorifying his name to the Polovtsian dance scene - an exciting form of divertissement that was the pièce de résistance of the evening.  Here his army of men gathered and jumped together in dark knight armor, his belly dancers were seductive, the veiled slave women were exotic and the entire stage raised their arms to praise him like a god.



With big brassy music including polovtsian traditional dance, period costumes and a large ensemble of 160 players, 120 chorus singers and 63 soloists, it would be a shame to miss out on this opera given that is rarely shown in the UK. Prince Igor is about the orient, the barbaric, the struggle of love and war. Yet there is also a historical sweet solitude encompassed in this Russian opera. The optimism shown through Borodin's romantic arias are breathtaking even if the opera is based on a gloomy war.

Yuri Alexandrov, producer of the opera wanted to focus on the spiritual aspects. He said: “Igor is a man who suffers and who, by suffering, atones for his sin. That is one of the most important ideas of the production. We have forgotten how to repent and acknowledge our mistakes.” The opera left the audience inspired last night. Some humming the chorus, 'Glory to the beautiful sun,’ as they exited the auditorium yet due to the deliberate removal of act 3 in most 'Prince Igor' performances, not just in Novaya Opera, the finale remains disappointing. What was the aftermath of Vladimir and Konkhan's daughter's relationship and what was Prince Galich's fate?  Many questions are left unanswered and it is perhaps the challenge of another production to step up and attempt to fill in the gaps.  

Hear 'Prince Igor' - Andjey Beletsky as Prince Igor - The Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow Russia
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Thursday, 20 February 2014

The Magic Flute: Review English National Opera Coliseum, London - December 2013


The Magic Flute: Review English National Opera Coliseum, London7 November - 7 December 2013Director: Simon McBurney


Last night at the ENO’s Coliseum theatre, the staging was unconventional where an elevated orchestra was raised from the pit. The protagonist, Tamino (Ben Johnson,) walks up to the flautist, Katie Bedford, while our clown king, Papageno (Roland Wood,) approaches Soojeong Joo, who plays the glockenspiel, to prove that these musicians are playing their magical instruments. With Simon McBurney, artistic director of ‘Complicite,’ his version of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ is not what you would expect.  His aim for the audience was to  “see and hear,” much like 1791, two years after the French Revolution, when it premiered at the Theatre auf der Wieden, in Vienna. This integrated orchestra was the vision McBurney wanted to emulate, where music and action could interact - yet, this might have been an oversight, as those sat in the front paid extra, but they could only see half the stage. 
In its original creation, the musical genius had many things to consider - the era it bore, the Enlightenment, and not forgetting, his participation in Freemasonry. This had influenced opera convert, McBurney, to spur him on to re-create a version just as radical as Mozart’s. 
In McBurney’s production, before the lights had gone down, an enthusiastic Gergely Madaras plunges straight into conducting the orchestra. By the stage, in a glass booth, an artist makes visible movements chalking up the words,  ’Act 1, Scene 1’ at a snail’s pace, projected for the audience’s entertainment, during a long overture. This tedious gimmick was best left out.

‘The Magic Flute’ is famous for Mozart’s grand musical wizardry and, more importantly, the Queen of the Night’s famous aria,  ’the vengeance of hell boils in my heart.’  As a frequent operagoer, I was looking forward to hearing the hard-to-sing coloratura music being sung by a mystical and revengeful mother as a defining point of the performance. Instead we received the soprano (Cornelia Götz,) dressed down as an old cripple who struggled to hit those money-making notes and get off her own seat or in this case, an actual wheel chair. Götz had sung as the Queen of the Night many times, internationally, and tonight was not her best performance, but she wasn’t alone. Bestial and filthy looking, Monostratos, (Brian Galliford) was out of tune too, and not reaching his peak.
Heavenly cherubic delights came to the rescue, nonetheless, from the three boys dressed like wrinkled Benjamin Buttons, (Alessio D'Andrea, Finlay A'Court, and Alex Karlsson) as wise guides to Tamino. They deserved applause, but it may have been past their bedtime, as they were not seen at the grand finale. James Creswell, our voice of justice and principle, through Sarastro, was the antithesis of Götz and, whose caliber of voice was an astounding presence, hitting those basal tones well.
Johnson, a Ricky Gervais look-a-like, had distinctive vocals most representative when expressing love for Pamina, (Devon Guthrie) ‘this enchantingly beautiful effigy,’ a stranger that he gathers from a projection of her face on a collection of white A4 sheets, is the girl of his dreams. 
Unfortunately Gutherie’s voice was merely adequate, lacking the sparks needed for a lead role. Still, the performance managed to redeem itself with the cheeky couple, Papageno (Wood) and Papagena (Mary Bevan,) who proved to be best-suited. Bevan had unravelled from a covered up elder to a young cute minx, whose talented voice, in a duet with Wood, celebrated the idea of making babies in their song, “Pa,  Pa,  Pa…”  Wood had an uncanny resemblance to the TV bird catcher, Bill Oddie, who brought depth to his developed baritone role. His northern accent and woeful loneliness added a fine comedic pantomime attribute required to balance out a serious storyline.
Finn Ross, the video designer, and set designer, Michael Levine, should be mentioned for their exaggerated paper birds, unorthodox sets and technological visuals of immersing water and fire images against a suspended cast in the air. 
McBurney is an actor, writer and director, which explains his theatrical canon for ‘Complicite.’  Yet, at first, he did not like opera, and said, it was,  “obscure” and  “pointless,” until he was encouraged to by Pierre Audi, artistic director of London's Almeida. Having done his due diligence for ‘The Magic Flute’ beforehand, in an interview on Radio 4, he said he examined Mozart’s thought processes such as, “how is humanity going to evolve?  We have just had the French Revolution and there’s buckets of blood everywhere.”  Luckily, there was no bloodshed tonight, but a multiplicity of theatrical intrigue piled onto a delightful ensemble of high spirited music, engaging visual effects, and a diversity of animated cast members. Regrettably, there was nothing awe-inspiring to praise here. ‘The Magic Flute’ requires electrifying operatic voices and it seems that someone forgot to tell McBurney this, which is a big shame.
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