No. 4 - 2007: 點點隔世情 Mary Stuart 橫觀直看 Aida

Aida

 

Michael, what can I say, but again I envy you – all these marvelous performances in HK while I’m away. The particularly good news is the operas, which just a few years ago were only available once a year in the Art Festival, seem now to be moving towards becoming mainstream entertainment.

 

The Aida I have experienced was something quite different – quite literally a circus. This was a long time ago when the producers, purportedly trying to bring opera to the mass audience, staged a production at Skydome, Toronto ’s huge sports (baseball, American football) stadium. Many people went just for the spectacle of the well-known scene, with an almost never-ending parade of animals including a gigantic boa constrictor! Some probably went home remembering the animals and not a single musical note. The caliber of the singers was good, but imagine watching an opera in the stadium in HK. We were sitting at “mountain top”, the cheapest seats. Even with the giant instant TV and powerful sound system, it was not worthwhile if what you watched is an opera. A circus, as I said. 

 

AIDA
11 Oct 2007, HK Cultural Centre, 7:30 - 10:40 pm
HK Philharmonic Orchestra  Conductor: Stewart Robertson
A Cast: Aida - Susanna Branchini; Radames - 奠華倫; Amneris - Katja Lytting; Ramfis, High Priest - Alfredo Zanazzo; King of Egype - 龔冬健; Amonasro - Jukka Rasilainen; Messanger - 柯大衛; Priestess - 嚴偉

Magnificent performace, it must be ranked as one of the best shows. Susanna Brancini (Aida) is simply breathtaking. She can sing the high notes with such volume, it brings the house down. Warren Mok delivers the goods. The High Prist, the King and Amonasro together with local talents 柯大衛 & 嚴偉 contribute to make this a great show. Katja Lytting (Amneris) however seemed a bit taken back in Act 1. She picked up afterwards from Act 2.
The chorus has to be commended. There are some DBS choir members on stage. The ballet sequences warrent praises. There must be 200 or so on stage in the Triumphant March with trumpets blasting on both sides of the balcony. One would not expect oxen, horses and elephants in HK. This is not the Metropolitan Opera after all.

Yes, Michael. I missed the period when  區嘉雯  rose to become HKRT’s leading actress. When I relocated back to HK, she had already gone abroad or was about to go. So the first time I heard of her was when she returned to play 白雪仙 in 劍雪浮生. I didn't watch it because with my luck, I could have been stuck with a group of audience that think that they are watching Chinese opera or, still worse, watching TV in their own living room – you know the kind. But I eventually had the opportunity to enjoy her great performance in two plays where she acted opposite 馮祿德 : 老竇 and 畫布上的爸爸媽媽.  So, I know how good she is. 

By the way, how did that discussion go, about Tang's best performance in Lust, caution being the execution scene? I would have thought that the emotions to be projected at an execution scene should be relatively straightforward – sadness, fear, anger. There are of course exceptions, such as Sydney Carton in A tale of two cities, where a strong emotion might be one of satisfaction or even elation. But that is an exception. In Lust, caution, I would have thought that Tang's best scene would be the ultimate, agonizing dilemma, torn between wanting to carry out the assassination and the desire to save the man she had developed a passion for.

橫觀直看打斜Look
沙田大會堂文娛廳 2007年10月6日下午3時 灣仔劇團

場刊上寫上"三度公演". 第一次演出是在16年前. 這次演出得前廣東話劇院主要演 歐陽奮仁, 及資深舞台劇演員 葉進, 尚明輝 參與, 再加上 區嘉雯 和 鄭至芝 陣容雄厚.
導演以喜劇手法, 帶出中國人的倫理人際關係: 什麼是孝, 如何去愛. 劇情一步步推向高潮. 觀眾看得笑中帶淚.
在坐談會中, 歐陽奮仁 大讚 區嘉雯. 說她是香港不可多得的出色演員. 正如電影 色.戒 中的湯唯. 演得多麼純真. 他最欣賞湯唯的一場戲... 是赴刑場的幾個鏡頭.

Mary Stuart – by Friedrich Schiller, translation by Peter Oswald

Performed by Soulpepper

Young Centre of Performing Arts, Toronto

While "Young" above does not refer to performers or audience, we did go with 7 young (relative to us, that is) people to a performance in the above venue. Following the tradition of Fridaystage, I was able to get a photo of the venue, captured by Amy. The sign at the top is only the tail end of the name, coming up as “FORMING ARTS”.

Movie fans will remember Mary, Queen of Scots (1972) with the inimitable Vanessa Redgrave playing Mary Stuart. (Incidentally, I noted that a remake has been scheduled to start filming next year, with Scarlett Johansson in the title role). Back to the present, Cate Blanchett’s sequel on Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth, the golden age, is due for release in North America next week. This one, I believe, is on a period when Mary had already been executed but the cast includes Samantha Morton playing “Mary – Queen of Scots”. Perhaps it’s in a flashback.

[All the above should have been in our movie blog!]

The theatre production we watched was excellent, but the best was in the 90-minute first act, with the gradual build-up to the climax of an electrifying, intense confrontation between Mary and Elizabeth. The short second act was more of a wrap up of the history and there was no trial scene such as seen in, say, “A man for all seasons”.

The Soulpepper ensemble is first class theatre group. The focus of the play we saw is obviously on the two women. Elizabeth was played by Nancy Palk, a founding member of Soulpepper. She was mesmerizing to watch, not just when she delivered her lines with pitch-perfect precision, but even more so when the actor playing opposite her was speaking. That was when she showed her true steel, with such an intense gaze that can melt lead or a scornful smile that can freeze blood. By comparison, performance of Mary the title role was weak, although good by any standard. Interesting to see that it was performed by a black actress. I am not sure how groundbreaking this is but it’s certainly welcome as a step towards universality of art. The role played by this black actress was not a case when the colour of a role is incidental (such as Sidney Poitier’s Oscar winning “Lilies of the field”), but is rather dictated – Mary, Queen of Scots is not black. The intention is good – a good actor can convince you that she is Mary, regardless of the colour of her skin. The actress we saw, unfortunately, came a little short. Her acting was just fine but her diction left a lot to be desired. Neither Elizabeth nor Mary attempted the English accent and I found no problem with it. It’s in the comparison with the perfect diction of Elizabeth that Mary suffered, quite badly.

Harry in Toronto

Much Ado About Opera – an evening of Shakespearean opera

Michael, you would have loved this one, an evening of excerpts from old and new operas adapted from The Bard’s plays. First, the program:

                                                         * * *

ACT ONE

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor – Carl Otto Nicolai ( Germany )

- Overture (piano)

Romeo et Juliette – Charles Gounod ( France )

- L’heure s’envole (choir)

- Je veux vivre dans la reve (soprano, mezzo)

- Ah! leve-toi soleil (tenor)

- O nuit divine (soprano, tenor)

Sir John in love – Ralph Vaughan Williams ( England )

- Alas my love you do me wrong (mezzo, baritone)

- Do but look on her eyes (soprano, tenor)

Falstaff – Giuseppe Verdi ( Italy )

- E sogno, o realta (tenor)

- Sul fil d’un soffio eresio (soprano, women’s chorus)

Falstaff – Antonio Salieri ( Italy – Aistria)

- Vendetta (mezzo)

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor – Carl Otto Nicolai ( Germany )

- O susser Mond (choir)

ACT TWO

Otello – Giuseppe Verdi ( Italy )

- Credo in un Dio crudel (baritone)

- Act 2, scene 4 and 5 (soprano, alto, tenor, tenor)

- O Salce, Salce, Salce, cantiamo (soprano, mezzo)

A midsummer night’s dream – Benjamin Britten ( England )

- Lover’s quartet (soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone)

Macbeth – Giuseppe Verdi ( Italy )

- Patria Oppressa (choir)

- Gran Scena del Sonnambulismo (soprano, mezzo, baritone)

Macbeth – Paul McIntyre ( Canada )

Double, double, Toil and Trouble (soprano, soprano, mezzo, tenor)

Hamlet – Mark Richards ( Canada )

- The graveyard scene (soprano, tenor, tenor, baritone, bass)

- Hamlet victorious (choir)

Hamlet – Ambroise Thomas ( France )

- Chanson bachique (Baritone, ALL)

                                                * * *

I attended this concert because one of my son’s friends is a soprano with the Ensemble TrypTych Chamber Choir that sang in the concert. It turned out to be really good. The soloist were professionals – 2 sopranos, 1 mezzo, 2 tenors and 1 baritone. For the excellent bass in your concert, Michael, we have a marvelous baritone who has an electrifying voice and great stage presence. The sopranos were very good too. The choir, comprised of 11 women and 8 men tonight, did very well.

The concert was held at a church (which happened to be within 15 minutes' walk from our place). With an unreserved seats system (remember it was held in a church) the concert quite informal. The attendance, however, was less than 100, we estimated. A few people left early (after hearing whoever they came to hear, I guess). It was kind of unfortunate because it was clearly evident that a lot of work had gone into the preparation. Preceding each number, the artistic director gave a detail and lively explanation of the piece of music to be sung. It was good to see that the response of the audience was warm, if not fully enthusiastic.

Harry, in Toronto

Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier, opera in concert
19:00 - 23:25, September 29th, 2007.
HK Concert Hall. HK Philharmonic Orchester. Edo de Waart
        Received a free ticket from the chairman of the PTA, as he couldn't make it. Lucky that I attended. It's a concert that brought the house down. The HKPO sounded fantastic.
        Dagmar Schellenberger, soprano, Michelle Breedt, mezzo and Franz Hawlata, bass, were the three main singers. The two ladies were very good, but it's the bass that stole the limelight. He's so powerful and sang the low notes superbly. They received standding ovations again and again and it's almost mid-night. It took so long as there were two breaks, each 25 minutes.
        There were a few local performers, amongst them, Warren Mok, an Italian singer, David Quah, Major-Domo/Innkeeper, Yuki Ip and other graduates from the HKAPA. It's nice to see them, especially the young ones, doing so well.
        Well done. You have to give it to the HKPO and Edo de Waart.

點點隔世情 - I would really love to see this one.  Hope that their re-run will come before next summer when I'll be in Toronto again.

I have another play lined up over here for 2 October, entitled Mary Stuart, translated from the original work of a German playwright Friedrich Schiller.  Shall report in due course.

First thing I'd like upon returning is to do a little 大眾回憶  on 赫懇坊 which I really miss.

點點隔世情 Sunday in the Park with George
2007年9月23日下午2時30分 香港大會堂劇院 劇場空間製作
編劇: James Lapine; 原作曲/填詞: Stephen Sondheim; 監製/導演/翻譯: 張可堅
演員: 朱伯謙, 馬沛詩, 凌紹安, 蔡玟軒, 何志文, 李俊傑, 鄭至芝 ...

        劇本是從百老滙音樂劇翻譯過來. 翻譯過程是花了不少功夫,心血. 全劇十七首歌的歌詞都印列在場刋中. 對其中廣東話的口語的研究十分澈底, 列出多本"粵語方言字參考書目".
        故事跟據喬治.秀拉(Georges Seurat, 1859-1891)用點彩法(Pointillism)繪畫的 《大碗島的一個星期天下午》(Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte) 得到靈感.
        全劇兩幕, 第一幕 1884年法國巴黎. 第二幕 1984年美國芝加哥. George最後一句話:"畫家最喜愛的是一張白畫布, 因為可以填上無窮的想像力."
        在演出後座談會中, 第一個大讚演員, 佈景, 音樂, 翻譯,... 的是 潘迪華. 看上去她沒有一點老態. 她說五場太少了. 其他觀眾也問到翻譯, 如可選擇這齣音樂劇, 等等.
        導演張可堅談到叧一場座談會, 一位觀眾說此劇要求太高, 有西洋畫, 音樂, 歌唱, 感情, 關係, 時空, 有點吃不消. 張可堅說每人有個人的欣賞重點, 希望他覺得好看. 但是回頭一想, 他的回答應是: 觀眾也有責任去跟進, 研究, 談論. 只有這樣香港作為一個大都會才會進步.