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What is surprising about this latest concert by the Lyric Opera was its apparent lack of publicity. Having learnt of this concert only few days before the event, I decided to shell out the stated $12 on that Saturday, only to find out at the ticket counter that $12 was the children's price, while the adult price was $20! That seemed to me quite an unreasonable price to pay for what were after all amateur singers (young and junior opera artists), especially since I only had to pay $8 (after NSF discount) to attend an SSO concert that would be starting in a few hours time. However, having already made my way to the Asian Civilizations Museum that hot afternoon, I decided to shell out the big bucks after all.
The first thing that struck me the moment I walked into the auditorium was the huge number of children in the audience. I then realised that apart from being a platform for the SLO's young talents, this was a show intended as an outreach programme to kids. Indeed, the fun started when Dominic Wan, face painted and costumed as a clown, crept down from the back entrance and introduced himself as the opera piper. I shall touch on his performance in the later part of my review.
Most Lyric Opera concerts (as opposed to their opera productions), are a mixture of good and not so good performances, since along with well established, powerful performers there are usually a few who do not quite come up to snuff. The replacement of the orchestral parts with condensed piano arrangements, while understandable for economic reasons, also tends to makes the performances pale in comparison with the many high quality recordings of opera performances available on the market today. This being a young artists' showcase, my expectations were of course somewhat lowered, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised by some of the singers.
The junior opera artists, comprising children selected
from the Opera Children's Chorus, performed well in their solos
as well as in the children's operetta Cinderella. Tong Min
gave a good reading of Over the Rainbow (although with the
use of a mike); Catherine Cheung, Charmaine Lee and Pamela Naomi
Khong, in the roles of the two sisters and their mother respectively,
gave the operetta much liveliness, although some of the children
still needed to work on their roles.
One junior singer that must be singled out for praise
is Janani Sridhar. Not only does she possess a fine voice that is
warm in tone, and a technique that is advanced for her age, but
she also imbued Eliza Doolittle's song with plenty of charm, wit
and intelligence, so much so that for a moment the audience felt
like they were attending a production of My Fair Lady instead
of a concert. Her partnership with the rest of the cast in Cinderella
(as the Fairy God-Mother) made the show all the more delightful
to watch. She has a promising future ahead of her as a performer.
And now for the grown-ups. Even though they were not, I understand,
paid a single cent for their efforts, all of them put on good performances,
convincing me that the $20 I had been forced to fork out was not
a waste of money. Melvin Tan needs to work on his technical skills
and pronunciation, but his spontaneity and lively characterization
of Papageno made up for his technical shortfalls. James Lee, by
contrast, gave the audience a delightful experience of his beautiful
lyric baritone voice, though I prefer James Lee's performance still.
Christina Nair's Queen of the Night (no relation
to Kumar and the Boom Boom Room gang) was a pale shadow of the famous
versions sung by Sumi Jo and Wilma Lipp. However, while looking
immensely constipated, she maneuvered skilfully through the neck-breaking
trills and produced a quite astonishing series of pitch-perfect
Fs. Just the bravery of taking up this extremely difficult aria
deserved the applause that she got that day.
Pamela Naomi Khong sung her South Pacific number
well, but her actions seemed just a tad over-rehearsed. Still, it
was a good effort on her part. Lesley Tay was in fine voice for
his song, the classic Some Enchanted Evening, gloriously winning
over the grown-ups in the audience and, I suspect, some of the secondary
school girls as well!
The most promising performers, it seemed to me,
were soprano Angie Ng, mezzo-soprano Sheila Ong, and soprano Lowell
Tan. Angie gave a sparkling bright interpretation of the famous
Lakme Flower Song, aptly supported by Lowell Tan. While some
of her high notes missed the mark by just a bit, her singing overall
was impressive. Sheila Ong's voice was a shade too thin for the
Habanera of Carmen, but the way she sashayed, strutted and puffed on
her unlit cigarette in the Carmen Act II quintet was dripping with
attitude and sensuality, keeping the audience glued on her performance.
And then there is the afternoon's best performer
(not just in my own opinion, but also in the many 'bravos' she received),
Lowell Tan. In the Magic Flute sequence, she shares chemistry
and nearly upstages her partner in technical superiority as Papagena.
Her supporting part in the Flower Duet added that extra sparkle
in a near perfect performance. Her solo showing of the Gounod Juliet's
aria Je Veux Vivre was very well delivered, supported by
brilliant technique and well thought-out musical decisions, ending
in a rapid-fire cadenza that captivated much of the audience. Her
participation and chemistry with the other two ladies in the Carmen
Act II quintet more than compensated for the restrained performance
of the men's. Her involvement in the entire show made the exorbitant
ticket price just a little more worth it.
Then there was the narrator Dominic Wan, who was very much the centre
of attention, the life of the party. Not content to sticking to
the script and simply introducing 'the next number', he showed incredible
skill in captivating his young audience as he teased, joked, and
conversed; and his clowning around was not just limited to the audience
but also the performers: after performing the pipe solos in Melvin
Tan's Der Volgen Fanger bin ich Ja, he proceeded to harass
every other performer, cowering in fear as the Queen of the Night
approached, impersonating Pavarotti at Lesley Tay's final high note,
feigning migraine attacks at Lowell Tan's high notes and more. While
these antics would get him in trouble in serious 'adult' productions,
his prancing around really succeeded in keeping the kids' attention
and thus preventing them from disturbing the performance for the
adults. He even amused the older members of the audience with a
lot of clever jokes!
Accompanist Liu Jia, perhaps hampered by the inexperience
of the singers, played her pieces just adequetely. But she capped
off the show quite well by playing the ever-popular Toreador
Song as a 'la-la-la' sing-along to get everyone to join in.
All in all, this show presented a fair number of
Singapore's next generation of singers, as well as being educational
- and profitable too, to judge by the ticket prices and the sold-out
theatre. It would have been better, however, if ticket prices were
lower. I would also like to humbly suggest that the SLO implement
an NSF discount since our nation's guardians deserve some affordable
operatic entertainment after working so hard to defend the country.
This was not a great show, but its was a good way to spend a Saturday
afternoon.
The
financially challenged and opera starved Steven
Ang humbly and openly begs for a couple of tickets to
September's Carmen.
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