Guy's Blog

Mrs Edwards had often suggested that we should take up dancing but frankly it had never really appealed to me. I much preferred to shamble around the dance floor embarrassing my offspring and amazing bystanders with the degree to which my limbs could move apparently independently from my rest of body. But ahead of having to waltz in Lehar’s Merry Widow, I thought I really ought learn a few steps – I was halfway there because, for a number of years now, I have been able to count to three and breathe at the same time (see ladies, men can multi-task!). As it happened, in the end the dancing in Merry Widow had to be choreographed to ensure that we were facing the front of the stage whenever we were singing, so I needn’t have bothered learning dance steps! Nevertheless, the Edwards combo started taking lessons and judging by our dance teacher’s reactions, most people do not try to start with Viennese Waltz. Now, to my amazement, I am really enjoying our regular dance lessons which have grown to encompass a wide range of Latin and Ballroom dances. Of course, Mrs Edwards uses our dancing as an excuse to acquire even more shoes but unfortunately for her, none of them have reinforced steel toe-caps.

Practising in between lessons is a problem as our house doesn’t have a ballroom. We’ve had limited success with modifying our dance routines to fit around the furniture and the dogs go berserk whenever we tango in the kitchen. We also tried waltzing on the lawn on a beautiful balmy summer evening (there was one) but grass is not an ideal surface and we were both on the wrong side of a bottle Nuits St George at the time which probably didn’t help. Our very patient and long-suffering dance teacher despairs of my inability to flex my knees properly – especially in the tango. In fairness, this isn’t laziness but is due to a lack of cartilage (listen carefully and you can hear the sound of bone grinding on bone). Regrettably, I abused my body when I was younger by falling off mountains, doing ridiculous things on skis and playing hockey. My surgeon tells me I have the knees of an eighty-year-old, so if any of you know who this eighty-year-old is, please tell me because I’d like my own knees back now.

Ant and Erin we may not be, but then, we are doing this strictly for fun! My advice (as if you need it) is don’t put it off – if you’ve always fancied having a go, then do it before the zimmerframe gets in the way.

http://www.pawlandance.co.uk/index.htm

I’ve just finished singing the role of Count Danilo in White Horse Opera’s production of “The Merry Widow” (Lehar) and after a week-long ‘high’ of fun, tension, excitement, adrenalin and (for me, at least) pure enjoyment – not to mention acting out a series of rollercoaster emotions - I am left feeling worn-out and just a bit empty and sad now that it’s all over. For me, The Merry Widow provided my operatic debut as a principal singer so it was a really important personal milestone and a truly memorable occasion for me. To all the folk who came to see it, I thank you so much! I’ll leave others to judge how successful it was, but from the stage, it seemed to go pretty well. (The Wiltshire Gazette & Herald Review can be seen here: REVIEW)

I was lucky enough to share the stage with some brilliant young professionals from whom I learnt much and to whom, I am extremely grateful. The lovely Lynsey Docherty (as Hannah Glawari – the Merry Widow) was an absolute delight to work with. Not only does she have a gorgeous voice and outstanding stage presence, but she has the patience of a saint! Bless her, (although she said otherwise) I’m sure there must have been times when my inexperience was a source of frustration. It’s a good job she also has a great sense of humour. I lost count of how many times I stood her toes whilst I was waltzing with all the grace of a rhinoceros!

Anna Vaupel portrayed Valencienne in a wonderfully playful and rather saucy way! Her singing was lovely and her dancing was simply spectacular (Oo-la-la! Quel q’un can-can!). Carl Malmgren played a very smooth Camille de Rossillon. (Regular readers will recognize Carl’s name from my review of Swindon Opera’s Carmen earlier this year.) Carl’s performance this week reinforced my earlier view that his is a name to watch. A rising star, surely. White Horse Opera regular (and founding member) Edward Harper played a slightly slow-witted Baron Zeta. His bass tones carried well even in the slightly dry acoustic of the Devizes Corn Exchange. Edward kept me on my toes by forgetting or rearranging a few lines now and then – but then, I’ve always enjoyed improvising, and thinking on your feet is all part of the fun!

From within the company, Graham Billing (playing Njegus) was never less than wonderful on stage: an expert in comedic timing, he drew every possible scrap of humour from the script and delivered it with a wonderfully deft and understated touch. Of the other principal roles, Jon Paget (Vicomte Cascada) and Michael Smith (St Brioche) played their roles admirably, bringing some wonderful texture, comedy and joie-de-vivre to the proceedings. Both guys have good voices and I suspect we will hear much more of them in the future!

Musical Director, Francis Griffin (sadly in his last appearance with White Horse Opera) seems to have produced a very nicely balanced sound. It was perhaps, above everything else, Lehar’s music (interpreted by Francis) which made this show such a success. I owe Francis a personal debt of gratitude as, not being a professional (and being a newcomer to principal roles), I undoubtedly needed a bit more help than the other principals and Francis guided, cajoled and encouraged me. Stage Director, M’Lou Llewellyn, gave us plenty of freedom to explore and develop our roles and, as the new kid on the block, I relished being given so much latitude. Danilo is such a wonderful role to play.

WHO’s very own dancing girls (brilliantly choreographed by Jan Roberts) made excellent grisettes - so much so, that during rehearsals they frequently distracted me to the point of making me forget my lines! The chorus too (despite the relative lack of big chorus numbers) did a splendid job. From where I was standing, they sounded very good and produced a really nice sound and most engaged very well with the action unfolding on stage. There are so many others who deserve a mention in dispatches - like Aurore who found herself unexpectedly thrust into the role of Stage Manager; Andrew Taylor (who whilst not being Bogdanowitch was busy designing and building the set) and our prompter, front-of-house team, committee, rehearsal accompanists, orchestra... the list is endless. (And some people wonder why opera is so expensive to produce!)

This is beginning to sound like a gushing “acceptance speech”, so before I burst into tears and ramble drunkenly on for another hour or so, I’d also like to thank Mrs Edwards and my long-suffering offspring who probably know most of my songs and dialogue as well as I do by now! And as for the casting committee... what a courageous decision to cast me as the male-lead despite my being an unknown quantity! Thank you for your faith in me. This has been a wonderful experience and the team at White Horse Opera have been great fun to sing with. My thoughts are already turning to next year....!

Lynsey Docherty - http://lynseydocherty.co.uk
Anna Vaupel - www.starnow.co.uk/AnnaVaupel
Francis Griffin - www.francisgriffin.com
Guy Edwards – www.guyedwards.info
White Horse Opera - www.whitehorseopera.org.uk

The swell in the Channel made the crossing somewhat uncomfortable, but didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the Wessex Male Choir when we took part in the Biennial Jersey International Choir Festival (8-11 October). Perhaps we should have sung “What shall we do with the drunken sailor” on the ferry crossing, but in the event, we saved that song until later in the day! From the outset, it was clear that the Festival was well-organized and that we would enjoy a warm welcome wherever we went in Jersey. The weather too was (unseasonably) warm so much so, that I rediscovered the joy of sunshine. Thankfully even in Jersey, you can’t be arrested for eating an ice-cream without due care and attention - even if I wasn’t wholly in control of my moustache!

On the Wednesday evening, ahead of the festival starting, we gave a joint concert in St Thomas’s Church, St Helier, with Jersey’s own Male Voice Choir, The Harmony Men of Jersey. They were a very friendly bunch of guys who, it seems, also shared Wessex Male Choir’s interest in drinking copious quantities of beer and singing after concerts! The next morning, to help publicize the Festival, a small number of Wessex Choristers along with our Musical Director, Rob Elliott, were invited into the studios of BBC Radio Jersey to do an interview and sing a short extract from one of our songs. The event represented a number of “firsts” for me: it was the first time I had ever sung live on the radio and it was the first time I had ever sung in a sound-proofed broom-cupboard. Apparently it sounded okay.

At the formal festival reception on the Thursday evening, we met the other choirs (including choirs from Ireland, Norway, Holland, Slovenia... and Reading!) and each group had an opportunity to sing one piece by way of introduction. Despite having a tiring two-day coach journey to reach Jersey, it was obvious from the start that the Slovenian Youth Choir (MMPZ I. Gimnazije v Celju) was pretty special. But, as ever, WMC was probably the most entertaining! As part of the Festival’s artistic outreach programme, all the choirs gave a Friday-morning concert in local schools. We sang in Victoria Prep School to 300 young lads who behaved impeccably – probably because they’d never seen anything quite like us before. They seemed to enjoy the small selection of songs we sang (which included an arrangement of McFly’s “It’s all about you” and “The Drunken Sailor" – complete with actions which I had noticed some of the baritones rehearsing on the previous evening in The Lamplighters.)

That evening, each of the island’s parishes was treated to a concert given by 2 or 3 choirs. We shared the Parish Church at St Ouens with the Slovenian Choir who were full of energy and zest. Numbering about 76, they displayed an incredibly taut, crisp style that is difficult to achieve with larger choirs. They were excellent and so obviously enjoyed their singing. Our contribution seemed to go down well although the cramped staging arrangements meant the choir was more fragmented than usual (I think I ended up singing between a second tenor and a baritone!).

Saturday morning saw the first of the festival competition classes held in the impressive surrounds of the Great Hall at Victoria College. (Imagine Hogwarts and you’ll not be far off!). WMC beat off what little competition there was to win “Best Male Choir” category and a place in the Saturday evening “Choir of Choirs” competition – hosted by Gareth Malone of “The Choir” fame (“Boys Don’t Sing” etc.).

The evening competition was held in Fort Regent’s cavernous interior in front of an audience of about 1200. It was a most enjoyable evening with plenty of contrasting styles and songs, from Slovenian Folk Songs, to Beatles hits and glorious choral music. Our own three piece set concluded with the rousing chorus from Les Miserables – “Do you hear the people sing?”.

The adjudicators probably didn’t have to work too hard to decide that the Slovenians were the winners: their precision was matchless and the technical difficulty of the pieces they sang was also impressive. Jeremy Jackman was the only adjudicator I recognized (he used to sing with the King’s Singers) and his words of wisdom were much appreciated (I did think he might have dressed up for the occasion though – he was wearing a nice big chunky-knit pullover which looked more like Arran than Jersey!).

In time honoured tradition, the post-festival dinner (held in the massive rotunda at Fort Regent) was a splendid event with dance music provided by Jersey Premier Brass. However, choirs (perhaps especially ‘the Wessex’) simply cannot resist the opportunity to entertain, and once the Band had left the stage, we entertained the assembled throng – and even got people dancing, cheering and shouting for more! While we may not have come away with the major prize, the Choir acquitted itself really well, made lot’s of good friends, learnt several phrases in Slovenian, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time!

My latest offering is another opera review – and I hope you’ll forgive my rather naive critique. Of course, everyone is a critic – but knowing why something is good – or “exceptional” is sometimes difficult to articulate. Hopefully my critical prowess(!) will improve over time as I am now studying for an opera degree with Bruford College which will no doubt hone my analytical skills!

For a splendid evening’s entertainment, it would be very hard to beat the English National Opera’s revival of Jonathon Miller’s production of The Barber of Seville which is currently running at London’s Coliseum (27 September 2008). The cast was simply superb, delivering the full potential of this hilarious opera buffa without ever detracting from Rossini’s sublime scoring. Miller’s production has certainly stood the test of time since its first run back in 1987. The revival, directed by Ian Rutherford was a vibrant and delightful gem.

There were too many visual jokes to mention and, as one might expect of ENO, there was plenty to keep the audience entertained throughout the not insignificant length of this opera. Chorus interactions were nicely handled – never undermining the main action but adding colour and wit to the proceedings.

The plot’s innamorati were nicely matched: John Tessier(as Count Almaviva) was convincingly ardent and Anna Grevelius, pretty as a picture as Rosina, was splendidly animated and played beautifully to the contrasting traits of her character: sweet damsel in distress yet verging on psychopathic bunny-boiler when not getting her own way! With fabulously clear diction, she and the rest of the cast made the surtitling somewhat redundant.

Garry Magee in the title role of Figaro, carried the part well with plenty of presence and sang beautifully, with conviction, swagger and a touch of cynicism. The famous Largo al factotum aria was well-handled, but orchestra and singer did come slightly adrift at one point. The ensemble work was splendidly done with some brilliant interaction and some beautifully directed tableaux – perhaps none more so than the Act 2 elopement scene (where the ladder is removed from the balcony before the young lovers can make their escape).

With such a wonderful cast, it’s hard to single out one individual, but Andrew Shore, playing the scheming, pompous and rather foolish Dr Bartolo, was utterly convincing, acting with a fine sense of timing and singing with absolute precision. Indeed he acted the part with such sensitivity and paradoxical sincerity that at times, it was hard not to feel slightly sorry for Bartolo.

Brindley Sherratt’s wonderfully caricatured Don Basilio was thoroughly unpleasant, calculating and creepy - a perfect foil for Shore’s anxious Bartolo. Reassuringly, we could still enjoy laughs at his expense with some light-hearted touches (such as Bartolo having to duck under Don Basilio’s enormous hat) - clear homage to Commedia dell’Arte slapstick rather than the wittier humour of Cesare Sterbini’s original libretto. Sherratt’s rich bass voice had a clean and solid quality that was perfect for underpinning the ensemble singing.

Just looking at Rory Mcdonald (making his conducting debut with ENO) made me feel really old (and not just on account of his energetic style!) and he must take credit for a very nicely balanced sound which never once swamped the singers or lost Rossini’s sparkle.

The English translation (by Amanda and Anthony Holden) was typically “ENO” - favouring the modern vernacular. Although one or two phrases grated slightly and left me wishing for something more elegant, there was no doubting that the librettist’s original intent was well-served and the audience certainly enjoyed the accessibility and some of the more topical touches.

This is a real gem of a production – go and see it if you can!