So, the end of last I joined the online voluntary review website, The Public Reviews (it's all good CV fodder... plus, free theatre tickets -woo!), which means that my amateur reviews might get read by more than the three (probably imaginary) people who read this blog. With the end of the year being quieter on the theatre front, with the exception of Pantos, I didn't have much chance to do my first review until February this year.

Typical of me, possibly lacking momentarily common sense, for my first semi-professional review that was going to be read by people, and seen by the actual theatres/companies, I decided to review a three and a half, German opera - Welsh National Opera's Lulu, directed by David Pountney, who even I had heard of!

The Public Reviews - WNO's Lulu

It was long, bum-numbing, German, Aria-less opera with artistic nudity; but also exciting, interesting and oddly enjoyable. I was sitting next to posh, proper reviewers with their pens and notepads - I did feel rather out of place! It was only my second opera, and first review for the site - jump in at the deep-end, don't I.

The second review was for another WNO opera - Madam Butterfly this time. If, in this analogy, Lulu is Sky Arts, then Butterfly is BBC Four - much more accessible and more people can get it. I enjoyed it much more, and Lulu was a different experience but I don't think I could sit through it again whereas I'd happily see Madam Butterfly again!

The Public Reviews - WNO's Madam Butterfly






The rest of the reviews were in my beloved Cardiff's New Theatre:

The Public Reviews - Soul Sister
Amazing performance from the actress playing Tina Turner, but the show was less of a musical/play and more of a Tina Turner tribute show with scenes and video clips in between songs. The audience were on their feet for the last lot of songs!
The Public Reviews - The Ladykillers
I thought that the funniest play I saw this year was One Man, Two Guvnors; but The Ladykillers was amazing! I love the film and am so glad that the play was just as good. And Clive Mantle in a dress was the funniest curtain call I've ever seen! 
The Public Reviews - Go Back For Murder
The Public Reviews - The Rocky Horror Show
My fourth time at a Rocky Horror show, and 3rd best production I've seen - if you're wondering they go, from the best: Jason Donovan, 1998 (with Nicolas Parsons as my favourite Narrator!); David Bedella, 2010; Oliver Thornton, 2013; and Jonathan Wilkes, 2003. A subdued audience, as it was a Monday night.

A Night at the Opera!

I've been fiddling with this post for a while but think there's no more I can say in it, so...
                                                                                                                                    
Last month I went to the Opera... I wish I could say I "saw an Aida, whose bust was so big it would often impede her" but I can't because I didn't. That'll have to wait until I actually do see a production of Aida, and if her bust doesn't impede her I'll be greatly disappointed. (If you don't know what I'm on about, have a watch of the film 'Beaches')

Incidentally I didn't realise how far the actual stage is from the seats, much further than a normal play, I sat down and I was in the front row even though I thought I was going to be a few rows back but I could, in fact, lean forward and see the orchestra.

Look, there they are. They were the pits(!) :D

Aaaaanyway, it was my first opera so I went to see the Welsh National Opera's production of La Traviata, one of the 'best first-time operas' (an actual opera star told me that, Joyce Didonato in fact... on twitter anyway). I've actually seen Porgy and Bess but I'm not entirely sure that that is classed as a proper opera? Okay, this was my first opera in another language. Since becoming a fan of Anna Netrebko a few years ago (admittedly, initially on a superficial level) I have tried to get into opera, and the La Traviata arias on her CD quickly became favorites. Everyone knows Sempre Libera, it's in loads of films (Priscilla Queen of the Desert for one) and brindisi - the drinking song, any song about drinking, in Italian, is going to be good.
So the orchestra started up and it actually made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, this was also my first experience of live classical music as well, honestly I could've just listened to the orchestra on their own! This being my first opera and not really having that much knowledge of the medium I can't really say anything about the musical side, although the singing sounded great to me. The three main singers - Joyce El–Khoury, Jason Howard (he's Welsh you know) and Leonardo Capalbo (apparently unrehearsed replacement) - were all, as far as I could tell, excellent! Although the two arias that I knew well (Brindisi, Sempre Libera) are in the first act I must admit that I did expect to enjoy the other acts less, to be honest I was worried I was going to be bored but the combination of comedy (gypsy & matadors scene), drama and eventual tragedy kept away boredom and secured my attention. The only other production I've had any experience of is watching a filmed production of Anna Netrebko and Ronaldo Vilazzon in a modern and sparse staging. After seeing the opera live and with full period costume and sets it is clear that that is the only way to see it! Before seeing it I was worried that I would be bored or my attention would get distracted but I definitely wasn't. I did find the surtitles a bit odd though, even though I had read the story beforehand I still relied on them for more specific views of what was going on at times.
After seeing my first opera I've now got my first opera recording on CD, admittedly my classical music collection is never going to outnumber my indie/alt/rock/jazz/pop/country CDs but at least nobody is going to say my tastes aren't eclectic! I was actually excited about my first opera CD, which annoyingly got lost in the post and took ages to arrive. I opted for a recording with Montserrat Lombard, she is the first opera singer I ever encountered even though I probably hadn't even heard of the word 'opera', I've always liked how she comes across in interviews, especially when she talks about her friendship with Freddie Mercury. I hope I do go to an opera again, even if it's just another production of La Traviata!