What I Saw On The Weekend by Paul Treasure
Mon, 4 Sept 2000, 01:36 pmWalter Plinge1 post in thread
What I Saw On The Weekend by Paul Treasure
Mon, 4 Sept 2000, 01:36 pmOh ye gods and what a monumental weekend it was...
'Orlando'
by Handel
WA Opera / OzOpera
His Majesty's Theatre
dir. Lindy Hume
I have decided that I am in love with Lindy Hume and want to have her babies...
This is the director that made me LIKE a production of 'Carmen', made me sit through 'Romeo and Juliet' and is personally responsible for the fact that, after seeing her production, I will NEVER direct 'The Mikado' (why bother!)
But, enough of superlatives...
The evening opened with an announcement by Richard Mills, artistic director of WA Opera (and who's opera of 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' is a personal favourite) to the fact that there are two great enemies to producing opera in WA: the first being the Nullarbor; the second being illness - Amanda Colliver, playing the role of Dorinda had been struck down by the dreaded lurgy, but was going on anyway...
This one statement cemented Ms Colliver in the hearts of the audience from the start, a place that, even had the announcement not been made, she would have won about fifteen minutes into the show. Ms Colliver's performance was outstanding! The one aria where her voice did, momentarily, leave her was acted so well (and she tried so hard) that the audience was almost on their feet at the end of it.
Tobias Cole as Medoro and Sarah McLiver as Angelica were also assured in their respective roles.
Andrew Foote gave a solid performance as Zoroastro, but I must admit it would have been nice to have heard the role sung by a Bass not a Baritone!
Christopher Josey acted the title role brilliantly, which made up for the fact that he was actually in very poor voice that night (to the point where I was wondering whether he, too, was a victim of the dreaded lurgy).
Brilliant set, fantastic costumes, really effective lighting..
You know, I don't think I can actually write a decent review for this show, it was just too good. Definitely one of the best operas I have ever seen. And I will be so bold as to put this down to one thing - the singers ACTED well, nothing ruins an opera for me more than bad acting (cf. review of 'Poppea' below).
The characters were believable, three dimensional, and made us actually care for them.
If you have the chance, can afford the tickets and can handle the music (no pun intended) then GO!!!!!!
'The Coronation of Poppea'
by Monteverdi
WA Academy of Performing Arts
Dir. John Milson
OK, I can't remember singers names, so I'll refer to them by character.
It really says something about a performance of an opera if the biggest applause of the night is saved for the orchestra. I kid you not. This was one of the most lacklustre performances of opera I have ever attended.
Oh, there was nothing wrong with the singing, in fact, if this had been a concert performance it would have been an unqualified success! But as far as an actual performance of opera goes... well...
Three of the singers stand out for high commendation - Seneca, Ottavia and Ottavia's Nurse.
While not at all enamoured of Seneca's costume, or really bad dye job on his hair, he acted (there's the 'a' word again) the part with a quiet dignity and pathos to the point where I was almost in tears during his death scene (I was almost in tears during the rest of it... but that's another story).
Ottavia and her Nurse were almost up to the Seneca's standard, but the three of them where head and shoulders above the rest.
The two leads - Poppea and Nerone - sang their roles beautifully, but breathed absolutely no life into their characters. Their duet at the end of the opera was one of the most beautiful and memorable moments in the show, but it is a section that ONLY requires beautiful voices work.
The production, as a whole, was full to the brim of terribly misguided decisions:
The characterisation of Amore (well done by the performer, but terribly misguided portrayal) and the other immortals seeming like an afterthought...
The playing of the Lucan scene in a bath-house, giving one scene a queer reading and then promptly forgetting about it for the rest of the opera...
The comic characters being so broadly painted that they just weren't funny...
I got the distinct impression that the director had seen two or three different productions of the opera and mashed them all together: Amore from photos I'd seen of the Opera Australia production; Seneca, Valletto, Arnalta from a production I saw on SBS a few months back...
So much good talent wasted...
Where are the Academy productions of old? I miss productions of the calibre of 'Greek', 'Dialogues of the Carmelites', 'The Rake's Progress'...
'Israel In Egypt'
by Handel
Perth Oratorio Choir / UWA Choral Society
Perth Concert Hall
This was a concert, so I'm not going to say too much.
Caitlin Hulcup (?) was a fantastic soloist, and I can't wait to see if she can act as well as she can sing. Justin Friend was also very good.
My only complaint was the diction from the chorus was poor to the point where I had to try and read the libretto while they were singing to understand it.
But otherwise, well done!
'Orlando'
by Handel
WA Opera / OzOpera
His Majesty's Theatre
dir. Lindy Hume
I have decided that I am in love with Lindy Hume and want to have her babies...
This is the director that made me LIKE a production of 'Carmen', made me sit through 'Romeo and Juliet' and is personally responsible for the fact that, after seeing her production, I will NEVER direct 'The Mikado' (why bother!)
But, enough of superlatives...
The evening opened with an announcement by Richard Mills, artistic director of WA Opera (and who's opera of 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' is a personal favourite) to the fact that there are two great enemies to producing opera in WA: the first being the Nullarbor; the second being illness - Amanda Colliver, playing the role of Dorinda had been struck down by the dreaded lurgy, but was going on anyway...
This one statement cemented Ms Colliver in the hearts of the audience from the start, a place that, even had the announcement not been made, she would have won about fifteen minutes into the show. Ms Colliver's performance was outstanding! The one aria where her voice did, momentarily, leave her was acted so well (and she tried so hard) that the audience was almost on their feet at the end of it.
Tobias Cole as Medoro and Sarah McLiver as Angelica were also assured in their respective roles.
Andrew Foote gave a solid performance as Zoroastro, but I must admit it would have been nice to have heard the role sung by a Bass not a Baritone!
Christopher Josey acted the title role brilliantly, which made up for the fact that he was actually in very poor voice that night (to the point where I was wondering whether he, too, was a victim of the dreaded lurgy).
Brilliant set, fantastic costumes, really effective lighting..
You know, I don't think I can actually write a decent review for this show, it was just too good. Definitely one of the best operas I have ever seen. And I will be so bold as to put this down to one thing - the singers ACTED well, nothing ruins an opera for me more than bad acting (cf. review of 'Poppea' below).
The characters were believable, three dimensional, and made us actually care for them.
If you have the chance, can afford the tickets and can handle the music (no pun intended) then GO!!!!!!
'The Coronation of Poppea'
by Monteverdi
WA Academy of Performing Arts
Dir. John Milson
OK, I can't remember singers names, so I'll refer to them by character.
It really says something about a performance of an opera if the biggest applause of the night is saved for the orchestra. I kid you not. This was one of the most lacklustre performances of opera I have ever attended.
Oh, there was nothing wrong with the singing, in fact, if this had been a concert performance it would have been an unqualified success! But as far as an actual performance of opera goes... well...
Three of the singers stand out for high commendation - Seneca, Ottavia and Ottavia's Nurse.
While not at all enamoured of Seneca's costume, or really bad dye job on his hair, he acted (there's the 'a' word again) the part with a quiet dignity and pathos to the point where I was almost in tears during his death scene (I was almost in tears during the rest of it... but that's another story).
Ottavia and her Nurse were almost up to the Seneca's standard, but the three of them where head and shoulders above the rest.
The two leads - Poppea and Nerone - sang their roles beautifully, but breathed absolutely no life into their characters. Their duet at the end of the opera was one of the most beautiful and memorable moments in the show, but it is a section that ONLY requires beautiful voices work.
The production, as a whole, was full to the brim of terribly misguided decisions:
The characterisation of Amore (well done by the performer, but terribly misguided portrayal) and the other immortals seeming like an afterthought...
The playing of the Lucan scene in a bath-house, giving one scene a queer reading and then promptly forgetting about it for the rest of the opera...
The comic characters being so broadly painted that they just weren't funny...
I got the distinct impression that the director had seen two or three different productions of the opera and mashed them all together: Amore from photos I'd seen of the Opera Australia production; Seneca, Valletto, Arnalta from a production I saw on SBS a few months back...
So much good talent wasted...
Where are the Academy productions of old? I miss productions of the calibre of 'Greek', 'Dialogues of the Carmelites', 'The Rake's Progress'...
'Israel In Egypt'
by Handel
Perth Oratorio Choir / UWA Choral Society
Perth Concert Hall
This was a concert, so I'm not going to say too much.
Caitlin Hulcup (?) was a fantastic soloist, and I can't wait to see if she can act as well as she can sing. Justin Friend was also very good.
My only complaint was the diction from the chorus was poor to the point where I had to try and read the libretto while they were singing to understand it.
But otherwise, well done!