GOING OUT

February 26, 2010

Last month at Barcelona’s splendid Liceu opera house, a sumptuous version of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde was staged. With a running time of close to five hours and a set designed by British artist David Hockney, the performance by the Los Angeles Opera Company must have had purists weeping with joy. This month, they may be slightly less enthused with the arrival in Barcelona of The Opera Show, although, equally, there are many who will be gratified by the all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza.

With a style that mixes the classic (wigs) and the contemporary (black leather and sequin outfits) with a more minimalist look (simple Thirties’ clothes), The Opera Show could be described as a live equivalent of The Best Opera Album in the World…Ever!. It takes some of the most popular arias written by the likes of Puccini, Verdi, Rossini and Mozart (‘Nessun Dorma’, ‘La Donna E Mobile’ and ‘O Sole Mio’—the kind of thing we all like to bash out in the shower or bath on occasion), and has four singers, five dancers and eight musicians perform them with all the guts and gusto you’d expect from a night at the opera.

If you know your Ring Cycle from your Rake’s Progress, or have any kind of opinion on whether Opera North’s 1993 staging of La Bohème has no equals, you should probably give The Opera Show a Pavarotti-sized wide berth. The Opera Show has no illusions about what it wants to bring its audience: a rollicking good time with big voices and big songs. It’s never going to be shown at La Scala, or the Liceu come to that, but for those who enoy the old favourites, The Opera Show will likely hit just the right note.

The Opera Show: Teatre Victòria, March 17th to April 4th, €23 to €45, www.theoperashow.com

February 26, 2010

Latest Comments

  • Trash Opera

    Coming to you from the same marketers that invented the term 'popular culture' and used it to turn us into a commodity, I give you: The Opera Show.
    The most insulting thing about this cut 'n' paste of the most famous opera arias strung together and force fed to us by a lurid entourage of arse-wriggling 'dancers' clad in Doc Martins and wigs, is that London-based listings site What'sonstage has dubbed it 'opera for the YouTube generation,' a phrase that is gleefully included on the pamphlet. Well that I can't ignore. As a member of the 'YouTube generation' I resent the comparison.
    YouTube, for all its many misses, is an affirmation of creativity and independence of spirit. It is a democratic, critical tool in a world controlled by the rich and stupid. It can take the drizzly slops of politicians' speeches, reveal their true intentions, and share them. The Opera Show is, in my opinion, a cynical venture, that strips all emotion and meaning out of human experience as explored through music, and jeers at it, and so at us: the exact antithesis of YouTube. I wonder if this is really commercial, or just well advertised.

    Posted by Alex P. March 22, 2010 12:54:24

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