[LJ2ME] Cafe Mo(re)Mus(e)
There's nothing that comes close to standing on the stage looking out into the horseshoe of an opera house and seeing thousands in their seats with their attention on you as you're about to deliver your big aria. While not on the scale of The Met in New York, the opulence of The ROH in London, the pedigree of La Scala in Milan or the legend of La Fenice in Venice, our very own Esplanade Theatre certainly can hold its own in presence.
The Singapore Lyric Opera's 20th Anniversary returns us to the last great opera of the 19th Century in Puccini's eternal and evergreen La Bohème. This paen to youthful excess and ode to the stirrings of love has much to recommend itself. With "highlights" making up more than half the work, it is certain to bring in the audiences to pack the house, as was the case this evening.
From my balcony seat in Circle 1, I overlooked the orchestra pit and was busy digesting the cacophony of sounds as the musicians warmed up. Despite the seeming chaos, every now and then, familiar strains floated out to tease and tantalise the ear. Taking the stand, conductor Wang Hui proceeded to lead the dynamic players with her usual elan.
A stylised title of the production found itself welded in a metal girder at stage front, suspended from high, a painter's easel and palette setting the scene before it. As the orchestra tore into the bumptious overture, curtain girder up and Marcello added the finishing touches to his Red Sea painting, shivering and rubbing his hands together for dramatic effect. The stock portrayals had begun. Despite fast-forwarding this current production a hundred years into the 1930s, the stereotype elements remain.
Song Kee Chang, our humsup Germont Senior from two years ago ably voiced his Marcello, his virile baritone projecting and carrying beyond the pit. The Rodolfo, one of a pair in this cast, this evening was taken by Kota Murakami. His bright and clear tenor recalled the best of Rodolfos, where a veritable fount of youth was requisite. Default soprano and de facto prima donna of the SLO Nancy Yuen, played Mimi, where this pairing had one thinking of 老牛吃嫩草. That said, when taking in the genius of the composer and the beauty of the music in its soaring melodies and sweeping emotions, without prejudice Yuen does step into the role fittingly.
The director's vision and concept was a diamond in the rough, but was not realised to potential. His team borrowed heavily from many musicals, in the stage and costume design the sisters? Priscil Poh and Phylia Poh engaged copied elements that were all too stark to be ignored.
The Montmarte scene buzzed with life for the commendable blocking and positioning of the chorus but boo for the suspended neon lights and signages, all too reminiscent of the Bangkok go-go bar in Miss Saigon. And the stock image of a sultry siren singing while posing seductively on a piano has been exploited to no end, but doing so on an upright is outright risable.
At the Barriere d'Enfer, the gates recalled once again Miss Saigon in its seminal helicopter scene or Jean Valjean's garden. The tavern unfortunately a war-torn and age-ravaged building bringing to mind SAF FIBUA training grounds. And what was with the crates serving no other purpose safe for something for Mimi to hide behind? On recordings, the quartet has ears more atuned to Rodolfo and Mimi's Spring pact, but a staged performance distracts with the outlandish antics of Marcello and Musetta.
Have I mentioned the overall vibe of a Rent in the ghetto look of the environs and the flapper dresses of Musetta like she stepped out of a Chicago?
The singing, or should I say Puccini's music saved the day. Glorious outpouring of love and hate whetted the appetites and tempered the preferences of the audience. The holy trinity of tenor aria, soprano aria and duet in Act 1 was well crafted, the acting acting not deducting from the show. The "moment" arias for the singers to shine were despatched without affair. However, one was disappointed by the screechy and screamy "Amor" climax in "o soave fanciulla". Then again, who can float the offstage disembodied effect like a Caballe?
Kristine Symes' Musetta would have been bettered if her voice was more substantial than the reedy, tinny one presented. However, her Quando m'en vo flitted and flirted flightily. Martin Ng's Colline sounded bitter about selling his great coat, the sonorous bass colour mistakenly aged by decades in an attempt to perhaps sound "philosophical". Brent Allcock's Schaunard completes the gang, and his baritone carried well, flying the flag high and singing out above his partners.
This most popular and famous of operas hardly needs an introduction and the house lapped up the treat with relish. It wasn't hard to digest and with everything literally music to one's ears, the familiar favourites came again and again.
As with Traviata two years ago, the production came into its own in the finale, where Yuen looked the very picture of death as the haunted look on her mien expressed everything that was not said or sung, and for anything else, Puccini's music made good on that. And who was it was quipped that nowhere else can you find someone "dying at the top of their lungs of TB".
It was a scene most tender and moving, and perhaps most succinctly concluding this tragic love affair was Rodolfo's anguished cry when the inevitable came to pass. His question of "quel guardami cosi?" more of an interrogation as all the loathe and grief he could muster was invested.
Bohemian rhapsody as they call it...
The Singapore Lyric Opera's 20th Anniversary returns us to the last great opera of the 19th Century in Puccini's eternal and evergreen La Bohème. This paen to youthful excess and ode to the stirrings of love has much to recommend itself. With "highlights" making up more than half the work, it is certain to bring in the audiences to pack the house, as was the case this evening.
From my balcony seat in Circle 1, I overlooked the orchestra pit and was busy digesting the cacophony of sounds as the musicians warmed up. Despite the seeming chaos, every now and then, familiar strains floated out to tease and tantalise the ear. Taking the stand, conductor Wang Hui proceeded to lead the dynamic players with her usual elan.
A stylised title of the production found itself welded in a metal girder at stage front, suspended from high, a painter's easel and palette setting the scene before it. As the orchestra tore into the bumptious overture, curtain girder up and Marcello added the finishing touches to his Red Sea painting, shivering and rubbing his hands together for dramatic effect. The stock portrayals had begun. Despite fast-forwarding this current production a hundred years into the 1930s, the stereotype elements remain.
Song Kee Chang, our humsup Germont Senior from two years ago ably voiced his Marcello, his virile baritone projecting and carrying beyond the pit. The Rodolfo, one of a pair in this cast, this evening was taken by Kota Murakami. His bright and clear tenor recalled the best of Rodolfos, where a veritable fount of youth was requisite. Default soprano and de facto prima donna of the SLO Nancy Yuen, played Mimi, where this pairing had one thinking of 老牛吃嫩草. That said, when taking in the genius of the composer and the beauty of the music in its soaring melodies and sweeping emotions, without prejudice Yuen does step into the role fittingly.
The director's vision and concept was a diamond in the rough, but was not realised to potential. His team borrowed heavily from many musicals, in the stage and costume design the sisters? Priscil Poh and Phylia Poh engaged copied elements that were all too stark to be ignored.
The Montmarte scene buzzed with life for the commendable blocking and positioning of the chorus but boo for the suspended neon lights and signages, all too reminiscent of the Bangkok go-go bar in Miss Saigon. And the stock image of a sultry siren singing while posing seductively on a piano has been exploited to no end, but doing so on an upright is outright risable.
At the Barriere d'Enfer, the gates recalled once again Miss Saigon in its seminal helicopter scene or Jean Valjean's garden. The tavern unfortunately a war-torn and age-ravaged building bringing to mind SAF FIBUA training grounds. And what was with the crates serving no other purpose safe for something for Mimi to hide behind? On recordings, the quartet has ears more atuned to Rodolfo and Mimi's Spring pact, but a staged performance distracts with the outlandish antics of Marcello and Musetta.
Have I mentioned the overall vibe of a Rent in the ghetto look of the environs and the flapper dresses of Musetta like she stepped out of a Chicago?
The singing, or should I say Puccini's music saved the day. Glorious outpouring of love and hate whetted the appetites and tempered the preferences of the audience. The holy trinity of tenor aria, soprano aria and duet in Act 1 was well crafted, the acting acting not deducting from the show. The "moment" arias for the singers to shine were despatched without affair. However, one was disappointed by the screechy and screamy "Amor" climax in "o soave fanciulla". Then again, who can float the offstage disembodied effect like a Caballe?
Kristine Symes' Musetta would have been bettered if her voice was more substantial than the reedy, tinny one presented. However, her Quando m'en vo flitted and flirted flightily. Martin Ng's Colline sounded bitter about selling his great coat, the sonorous bass colour mistakenly aged by decades in an attempt to perhaps sound "philosophical". Brent Allcock's Schaunard completes the gang, and his baritone carried well, flying the flag high and singing out above his partners.
This most popular and famous of operas hardly needs an introduction and the house lapped up the treat with relish. It wasn't hard to digest and with everything literally music to one's ears, the familiar favourites came again and again.
As with Traviata two years ago, the production came into its own in the finale, where Yuen looked the very picture of death as the haunted look on her mien expressed everything that was not said or sung, and for anything else, Puccini's music made good on that. And who was it was quipped that nowhere else can you find someone "dying at the top of their lungs of TB".
It was a scene most tender and moving, and perhaps most succinctly concluding this tragic love affair was Rodolfo's anguished cry when the inevitable came to pass. His question of "quel guardami cosi?" more of an interrogation as all the loathe and grief he could muster was invested.
Bohemian rhapsody as they call it...