Three evenings at the opera last week and I didn’t see a single complete opera.
The Royal College of Music Midsummer Night’s Dream was set in a night club or maybe a brothel in the Weimar Republic. Running time 3 1/4 hours meant that one guest would have to miss dinner or his last train so we guiltily slunk off to the Polish Club in the interval.
On Friday Fulham Opera put on a programme of excerpts from Das Rheingold, Der fliegende Holländer, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlo, Lucia di Lammermoor and Falstaff. The FO orchestra struggled with the more lingering parts of Wagner’s sublime music, perhaps under-rehearsed for this one night only event? Let’s draw a veil over that and move on to the singing. The Rhine Maidens both sang and swam with conviction as Alberich, sung by Oliver Gibbs, stole their gold. He later sang an excerpt from Simon Boccanegra and ran the bar in the interval. That’s what fringe opera is all about.
Keel Watson, wearing a dinner jacket that fitted so badly that his hands were invisible, sang excerpts from the Dutchman and Don Carlo, which will be FOs next full production in November. Nadine Benjamin sang beautifully something by Verdi and shamingly I cannot remember precisely what. Alberto Sousa performed an extract from Lucia. If you take a look at the biographies of these impressive singers they land roles in larger and more prestigious venues than St John’s Church on North End Road. In some cases Fulham Opera has launched their careers which is what it’s all about, while giving high quality, intimate opera on my doorstep.
On Saturday I saw Rossini’s Semiramide at the Curzon Chelsea screened from the Met. Quite a contrast from Fulham Opera. It is vocally very demanding and needs a large cast: two sopranos, a contralto, two tenors and three basses. It is seldom performed but the music is sublime and with a glorious overture to boot. However, there was another guilty early exit to go out to dinner. There was also some bad news. At the end of this month the Curzon Chelsea, in the King’s Road, will close. The facade of the cinema will be retained and there will be three screens when it re-opens in 2022, the largest of which will have 400 seats – about half the present size. Here are the plans.
https://youtu.be/WXP79dH4DHM