Scenes from a long bus ride

I suddenly had the urge to eat a huge roast chicken. Can't quite work out what came over me...

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Opera: Don Pasquale

Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera was a nice way to spend a Sunday evening. Not good or bad but nice. There was nothing terribly engaging about the performances, and in the first act it was a struggle to hear anything much from the cast. Later we were informed that one of the cast members was having problems but would persevere for us all. But the opera is witty and the story around an old man who marries to spite his nephew moves briskly through its three acts and comes with some laughs.

Particularly exciting was watching conductor Evelino Pidò conduct the opera chorus in the third act, which was a performance in itself. Jonathan Miller's 2001 production still looks fair enough, although its doll's house set design manages to distract one's attention and is possibly the reason for the poor quality sound. On the other hand you do get a better view of the cast than you would normally sitting in the amphitheatre... It runs through September and worth catching...

Theatre: Passion

Stephen Sondheim's Passion has started previewing at the Donmar as part of the Sondheim at 80 season... This dark story about a young officer drawn towards a sick unhealthy woman is less musical and more melodrama set to a lush romantic score, with a bit of crazy thrown. The musical motifs repeat and repeat to a dizzying point and if you let yourself accept the basic premise of the show you're in for a hell of a ride. I have always liked this show in which the central message seems to be long distance relationships don't work, no matter how well written the letters are. Sondheim's music and lyrics are more natural here and grounded in realism, including told through a series of epistolary songs that repeat and alter. And if it this production is this good on the first night, it can only get better.

The show opens with Scarlett Strallen as Clara and David Thaxton as Giorgio in their underwear doing gymnastic gyrations on an unmade bed. Amongst all this they manage to sing the opening number "Happiness". Of course the last time I saw Passion they were naked in this scene so I was a little disappointed with the underwear. Whether it was the choreography or the opening night or the fact that Sondheim has written some rather odd notes for them to sing, the performances at this stage seemed a little hesitant, but this quickly changed and both got better as the show went along...

Waiting for Elena Roger to appear in the main role of Fosca is quite suspenseful. Initially hearing only her screams and moans (it's that sort of show), she arrives onstage after walking behind the set's open doorways, startling both the audience and Giorgio... But she seems such a small and delicate figure - timid and meek - that you feel like you can sit back a little. This changes as dialogue transforms into song and she sings her first song "I read"... There begins the descent into a dark world with one disturbing scene after another. It would be easy to turn this character into a caricature and recent performances of songs from this show have done this. But Roger keeps the role so finely balanced between realism and melodrama that her looks, her screams, her breakdowns are like they are actually happening. And the small space of the Donmar puts you in the front seat of it.

To give anything further away about the show would be to spoil the fun of this gothic musical. It was Webcowgirl's first time watching this show and she felt it was not what she thought it would be as our Audioboo below explains. Meanwhile others in our party commented they were too old for all this melodrama, but they loved it all the same.  At times you will want to slap the characters, but once accepting of the melodrama, it's as disturbingly enjoyable as Sweeney Todd. Afterall, isn't being surrounded by people who are just nuts and then gradually accepting that as normal just part of everyday life? It runs until the end of November. Don't miss it.

Scenes from West London

A little bit of muscle and a big bang...

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Theatre: Death(c)rap

After catching Tuesday's preview of Deathtrap with the West End Whingers and others, I was left slightly ambivalent about it. Sure it was entertaining and mildly amusing, but so is throwing insults at chuggers, and you can do that for free. I had also missed catching the "movie-like" trailer on the internet as well so even the pre-show buzz about this show had passed me by. So when the opportunity arose to see it again on Saturday night, I thought why not. So this post covers both the Tuesday and Saturday preview of the show... It may be a little odd seeing the same show twice in one week but I figured I would simply channel the mindset of Simon Russell Beale's stalker number one fan to get through the show...

Upon arriving at the theatre, you are asked not to give away the story to others and I suspect that is because if people knew it was as creaky as the set then they might have second thoughts. On Tuesday night what made it fun was the audience screaming and the loud sound effects. On Saturday night, while I wasn't as close sitting in the Royal Circle, there was a much better overall view of the show and more C-list celebs about, such as that guy from the Pineapple Dance Studios. While Tuesday night the screams from the circle tended to give away things before you could see what was happening in the stalls, on Saturday night there was less of that, which was a pity as even if the story is predictable, there is nothing like a good scream to get your attention... Neither night however sold me on the merits of this show.

Maybe thrillers are meant to be dated and slightly hoary, but the complete lack of chemistry between the three lead characters doesn't help. There is also some particularly fine scene chewing by the other characters as well, dating it even further and moving the show beyond any doubt of credibility. Perhaps with a bit more immagination in setting up the premise of a desperate writer, maybe it would have been a bit more of an enjoyable and believable show. There are still some cheap thrills at appropriate points and the sound effects boom and people tend to jump at that. Whether they are enjoying it is another matter... There is a line where the psychic predicts that she sees a successful show that will run for years. A tad presumptuous for this production perhaps... Worth catching for mildly entertaining cheap thrills and even cheaper laughs... Or if you like your men with beards...