Baroque Masterpieces

I get sick of being always behind the times, so for once I'm posting within hours of the actual performance — you know, the way all those supercool New York blogging types do. As usual, I still don't want to pre-empt my elsewhere reviews (although I'm hoping to have these finished pretty promptly too, before French and Saunders erase all operatic knowledge from my brain and replace it with Sarah Walker singing Kylie Minogue) but what follows is really just a sort of elaboration of what I Tweeted during tonight's mobile experiment — which, technically at least, seems to have been a success.

We had a red velvet curtain tonight, for a change. This probably matched Dido & Aeneas (where red costumes abound) better than the slick black and white Acis & Galatea, but it was a nicely exotic change at any rate. And while I'm talking accessories: the programme covers have changed. It's now a glossy cover with a full page photo, instead of the matte red with an inset. (Inside, nothing's different.) I like the larger photo — I think they might help to individualise each production, rather than leading to an infinite collection of nearly-idential booklets. I do wish they could have kept the matte finish though: there's just something lovelier and more collectable about it, or maybe that's just me. However, my main issue with the cover was the particular photo which graced it. A production shot of Dido & Aeneas — all well and good, except it was a shot from the 2004 season, with Deborah Humble. Now, I appreciate that there are deadlines and so on, and maybe programmes have to be ready to print long before the current show is at a photographable stage, but all the same...it seems a little strange to have a programme feature so prominently a singer not involved in the show, and especially strange not to feature the really rather famous singer who is in the show, namely Yvonne Kenny. Was there truly no way to put her on the cover? Isn't that the kind of visual subterfuge Photoshop was invented for. But perhaps not. Anyway, it's a pretty minor gripe. 

So much for the peripheral aspects. Regarding the show itself, as I say, I don't want to write too much just now. Patrick Nolan's pair of productions are both reasonably successful and interesting, although I wouldn't necessarily declare either an out-and-out triumph. His celebrity culture take on Acis will probably upset a few (I bet they were livid that there was no interval during which to walk out in a huff) but really, he loads almost everything potentially offensive — sex, drugs, a boy-boy kiss — into Damon's (Kanen Breen) first aria and the rest is reasonably harmless. As I Tweeted, I think the sets and costumes (and a lot of the stage action) could easily be appropriated as  the first act of a modernish Traviata with no alteration necessary. His Dido was spookier and more intimate than my faint memories of the 2004 production, which I saw in Melbourne — I imagine that says more about my memory than it does about any revising Nolan has done, though. Although I could have sworn Kanen wore green body paint as the Sorceress last time — this time he wore a sort of vulgar parody of Dido's royal robes, which was quite effective. 

Fine singing from top to bottom, some of it remarkably so. I was reminded yet again how fortunate we are in our chorus: they were as stellar as ever, even with a lot of new faces (including a number I recognised from Conservatorium productions) and their delivery of both operas' final, haunting choruses was some of the best singing we heard all night. I don't know what you're doing, Michael Black, but don't ever stop. Just a few names to highlight for the moment: Shane Lowrencev overshadowed (literally and figuratively) his colleagues in Acis as a monstrous yet weirdly charismatic Polyphemus — shades of Don Giovanni. I thought Taryn Fiebig was better as Belinda than Galatea, more stylistically assured and steady of tone. A very pretty cameo from Margaret Plummer as the Second Woman Spirit in Dido. And after much anticipation — especially from me — Yvonne Kenny delivered a Dido as regal and beautiful as she is. You either love the vibrato or you don't — it's pretty pronounced these days — but nothing can disguise the fundamental beauty of timbre or the exemplary control she clearly has over her vocal resources, whatever their current limitations. She owns the stage the moment she appears (crucial in a role with so little stage time) and her final laments is just as crushing and gorgeous as I'd hoped. I've waited three years to hear her in this role and I wasn't disappointed. One final note: I think it was a very smart move on the part of Opera Australia to engage not only Antony Walker but his band (The Orchestra of the Antipodes) as well. Fabulous.

That will more than suffice for now. A more focused and less rushed report in a few days, I hope.

Comments

[david]

Very glad to hear the good news on Yvonne Kenny. It sounds like the role and its demands both vocally and otherwise, suit her to a tee. I can just imagine the total dignitas and gravitas she brought to singing Dido's lament.

The cover issue is no surprise. OA have a history of using photographs on the cover where the featured artist is from a previous producton and therefore disappointingly has no relevance as a memoir or souvenier of the current production. I imagine therefore, the cover of Manon Lescaut will feature a photo with Elizabeth Whitehouse, being the previous singer to sing the role? It is I agree a small point in the big scheme of things but I fully agree!!

[Sarah]

I wasn't so troubled by the old photos when they were only a small inset on the cover - or even on the posters, which are sort of a general ad anyway and have to exist months before rehearsals - but when it's a full page photo and something you're looking at while the show is going on, yes, a bit weird.
Yvonne is dignity itself. Vocally, I can't say she's not occasionally stretched, as she would be by anything, but for the most part it sits pretty nicely for her and she sounds really quite beautiful. It certainly sounds like a happier place for her than Previn's Blanche - really not quite sure how she's going to pull that off a second time, but I suppose she knows best.

[david]

I was wondering about Blanche and I hate to ask because it seems so undignified and lacking in respect to question this great Australian artist and the choices that she makes-but it sounds like there may be some question marks about how she will handle the demands of Blanche again, given the inevitable decline that all singers must face with respect to their vocal resources-as you say, she would not assume the role again without full confidence in herself.

[Sarah]

I thought she did very well with Blanche in 2007 but it did seem very taxing even then, and that's two years ago. I can't help wondering to what extent obligation (personal or contractual) comes into it - it was a hit, they promised Melbourne a season of it, and Melbourne might be miffed if they didn't get the original star.
But she is a clever woman and she presumably knows her own strength; and even if the second Blanche is a bit of a misjudgement, well, I guess it's her misjudgement to make. So I'm just hoping for the best. I might go to Melbourne and catch a performance.
I think Dido plays better to her temperamental and vocal strengths though.

[Liz]

Just to let you know, Amy Wilkinson performed the 2nd Lady, not Margaret Plummer, Margaret performed the Spirit

[Sarah]

That's what I get for posting in the middle of the night! Thanks for that. Will amend. (It was Margaret I had in mind. Just typed the wrong role.)

[jay wilson]

Have just been watching the royal opera's Acis and Galatea on youtube and I must say that I found Opera Australia's production far better.Why don't Opera Australia put some of their recent productions on youtube? Is it a copyright thing? I also wanted to say that I thought Shane Lowrencev was fantastic and really did outshine the other cast members in Acis. Why isn't the company promoting him more? I'm going again tomorrow night and hoping it will be just as good if not better second time round.