Early music at Normansfield Theatre

Normansfield Theatre, part of the the Langdon

Down Centre, is both a worthy cause and a pleasant shortish walk away so I try to see as many musical events there as I can.

I needed no additional encouragement to go and see the baroque double-bill of John Blow's Venus and Adonis and Henry Purcell's Ode on St Cecilia's Day performed by Richmond Opera for a very reasonable £20.

I did not know either piece but am familiar enough with baroque music to know what to expect.

Venus and Adonis has been called the first-ever opera in English and it told the story of Cupid's magical dart causing Venus, the goddess of love, to fall for Adonis, a young mortal, and the amusing consequences. It was light and fluffy and quite entertaining.

The interval was something of a disappointment as the downstairs bar was not open.

Purcell's Ode on St Cecilia's Day was a recital and while there was no story to follow, or action on the stage to look at, it was a charming piece of music in the same musical vein.

Richmond Opera is a community group so I did not expect the quality of the singing to be anything like that at Glyndebourne and I was pleased to hear a few very good voices among the decent ones.

The walk home was enhanced by a quick stop at Tide End Cottage, a perfect end to a fine afternoon.

La Boheme at Normansfield Theatre

Opera at Normansfield Theatre hits so many good buttons that I have to have a very good reason not to go and, luckily, nothing got in the way of this performance of La Boheme.

One of the good buttons if that the concerts are for charity and so I was more than happy to part with £20 for my ticket. Another one is the location and despite the intense cold and the presence of some some snow I enjoyed the forty minute walk there.

My timing was good enough for us to claim four seats in the front row with our coats before disappearing down to the basement to make another donation to charity (and get a beer).

La Boheme was presented by Villa InCanto who I had seen before. They have a simple and effective technique that works very well. The leader, Riccardo Serenelli, introduced the opera and then each of the four scenes before taking his place at the piano leaving the stage to the the flower girl Mimi, her beloved poet Rodolfo, his friend the painter Marcello and his love the fickle Musetta. I had seen La Boheme several times and, even so, I found the introductions useful.

The four singers Zarah Hible, Renato Cordeiro, Jorge Tello Rodrigues and Elise Lefay were all very good. Indeed this was the best ensemble that I could recall hearing, usually there is one singer who standouts for being slightly above or below the standard of the others but not this time.

The setting helped too with the intimate atmosphere of the small theatre and the seating arranged in a horseshoe making it a very personal performance.

Everything about the evening was lovely (except the weather!) and once again I was reminded of just how lucky I am to have a special place like Normansfield Theatre on my doorstep.

The Magic Flute at Normansfield Theatre

The opera events at Normansfield Theatre have been good to me in the past so it was an easy decision to go and see The Magic Flute there.

I chose to go on a Friday as it was easy to walk there after work. I took a slight detour via the Tide End to get something to eat and their Asian Vegetable Burger came up trumps again.

The evening was sold out, all three evening were, and I did well to get a seat in the second row. A bargain at £15.

This was an amateur performance so I was not expecting that much and, to be honest, a few of the singers were a little off tune at times and/or lacked the strength of voice required to fill the room. The star of the show, Pamina, was either professional or professionally trained and her performance was sparkling. The Queen of the Night also had the power to suggest she had good credentials and while the male lead, Tamino, started a little weakly he grew into the role and his solo later on a highlight of the show.

The orchestra was also amateur but hid that well and their fine playing meant that the music easily carried the opera and made any weaknesses in the singing irrelevant.

There was an interval of course and that was an opportunity to give more money to charity, the Down’s Syndrome Association, by buying a glass of Prosecco. It was also an opportunity to say hello to some old faces, Richard who ran the chess club that the boys went to when at Primary School and Roger and Lucy who abandoned the beauty of North Kingston to live close to the A3 about twenty years ago.

After the performance I went to The Anglers for a final drink only to find it ridiculously shut at just after 11pm on a Friday. The Tide End was still open so I had a pint there instead. I prefer it there anyway.

This production of The Magic Flute was never going to compete with the likes of Glyndebourne but that was not the point. This was a very pleasant night out with some excellent music and some decent singing.

L'Elisir D'Amore at Normansfield Theatre was delightful

A careful look at the poster will reveal that it is for a performance in 2013 but I could not find the one for this year online (I do have a paper copy of it) so this will have to do.

This was familiar territory in several ways. I had been to Normansfield Theatre a few times, had seen Villa in Canto there before and had seen the full opera at Glyndebourne. That was all good territory so it made perfect sense to combine all three in one evening.

The weather was kind this time and it was a pleasant and reasonably long walk there. I timed it to get to the theatre around 7pm, for a 7:30 start, and I was not far off. But I was still to late to get a close seat in the front row but there was a front row seat in the centre a little further from the stage and so I went for that. That proved to be a brilliant decision as the view was excellent especially after I moved my chair a little, which I was able to do as there was nobody behind me.

Having bagged my seat with my coat, as is the customer there, I went to the downstairs bar for a beer, as is my custom. As always, I justified this on the grounds that it was more money for the charity.

L'Elisir D'Amore was presented the way that I had seen them do opera before with a narrator taking us to certain scenes in the story and then moving to the piano to play the music for the singers who came on to play that scene.

This approach has a lot going for it,  there is no need to read a programme or sur titles during the performance, the boring bits can be skipped and what is left is the heart of both the story and the music.

L'Elisir D'Amore is a light opera that almost follows George Bernard Shaw's rule that opera is when a tenor and a soprano want to make love, but are prevented by a baritone. The slight difference in this case is that the soprano is initially reluctant and so the tenor tries the elixir of love in some desperation, while the baritone relies on his army uniform. In the end money solves the problem.

The semi-staging was very effective with the cast making full use of all of the space, including the seating area and the stage. They also roped some of the audience in at times, e.g. to hold on to a hat. All these little touches added to the fun of the evening.

Another thing that helped the evening on was the glass of Prosecco that I had in the interval.

But the thing that helped the evening the most was the music and the singing. All of the small cast were excellent and L'Elisir D'Amore was littered with good tunes.

This was yet another splendid evening of good music well presented at the Normansfield Theatre.

Madama Butterfly at Normansfield Theatre

I like to go to the operatic and musical nights at Normansfield Theatre because they have always been good, they raise money for charity and it's a nice walk to the theatre and back, with the walk back taking in one of the pubs by Teddington Lock.

And so I went to see Madama Butterfly.

I got there about half an hour before the performance started and went downstairs to get a beer. This was almost a mistake as I soon discovered.

I went upstairs just before the show started to find almost all of the seats claimed with coats by people down in the bar. Getting a good seat is not normally a problem as the stage is so high that it can be seem from anywhere but this time the show was being performed on the floor of the auditorium and so a good seat mattered. I should have gone in to the theatre first.

Luckily there was one seat on its own in the front row and I claimed that.

Madama Butterfly was an a abridged and reduced version of the (rightly) famous opera. The story was told by a narrator who also played the piano, the only instrument used. We were introduced to the main characters and scenes that were then sung by just three people playing the parts of Madama Butterfly, Pinkerton and the US Consul.

Unusually for the Normansfield Theatre they sang in Italian, rather than English, hence the need for a narrator and the Italian name of the opera.

I was at the very end of a horseshoe of seats and most of the singing took place one or two metres from me.

A few props were used, mostly to suggest the location of the scene, and there was some movement but overall there was little acting, except through the singing. Costumes were used so this was very much a semi-staged opera rather than a recital.

I knew the story and while it was a little strange to miss chinks of it, particularly all the dialogue between Madama Butterfly and her maid, this performance worked well as a "greatest hits". The ending was enhanced by the appearance of the couple's son and the young boy did very well to play his part at what I hope was well past his usual bedtime! We also saw Pinkerton's new wife at the end as they came back to Japan to claim his child with tragic results.

All of the singing was lovely though I have something of a soft spot for baritones at the moment so it was the Consul's singing that I liked the most. That is just my bias, they were all good.

Despite the predictable ending Madama Butterfly was a very gratifying evening and it left me wanting more of the same. It looks like that wish will be met with Don Pasquale in November.

Sweet Songs From The Shows! at Normansfield Theatre

My growing immersion in to the world of musicals even saw me going to a concert featuring famous songs from famous musicals.

Songs from the Shows! promised 20 West End Musicals in 1 night with a selection of songs from Les Miserables, West Side Story, Oklahoma, South Pacific and many more. That was clearly tempting.

It was not just the songs that got me there though, I like the Victorian charm of the Normansfield Theatre and the show was raising money for charity.

Careful planning meant that I had enough time to walk there but less careful planning and a misleading weather forecast meant that I had to return home after 500m or so to collect an umbrella. Despite that delay I was still able to get there in time to have a bottle of Budvar before the start of the performance,

The format was simple but effective. There were just three singers (two women and one man), a pianist and a narrator.

The narrator told us the story of the musical, rising to replace light opera, and introduced songs that were landmarks on this journey chosen, he said, because they were the performers' favourites.

And so we got some nice edited highlights of a hundred years or so of musical theatre.

This was a greatest hits collection so I knew quite a lot of the songs but they were all from musicals so there were quite a few that I did not know. That gave me the nice combination of familiarity and discovery.

The selection was interesting with some obvious hits from some obvious hit shows, e.g. Summer Time and Oh What a Beautiful Morning, some less obvious hits from obvious hit shows, e.g. Wash That Man Right Out of my Hair and something obscure from The Sound of Music, and some obvious hits from less popular shows, e.g. Send in the Clowns.

Copyright must have played a part on the more recent material as the only LLoyd Webber selection was an obscure song from an obscure show, so obscure that I have forgotten what they both were.

Most of the people there knew more of the songs than I did and they happily joined in with the singing when requested. Not knowing the songs was a convenient excuse for me not to.

The show was all very pleasant and the rest of the evening was too. There was a short break in the middle where I could help myself to another Budvar and the weather was nice enough for me to walk back the pretty way, including a slight detour through the Tide End.

Once again the Normansfield Theatre proved to be a little treasure and once again I was pleased to support it.

Captivating version of The Magic Flute at Normansfield Theatre

I like the Normansfield Theatre in Teddington. The building is pretty, going there supports the Down's Syndrome Association, every show that I have been to there has been very good and I can walk there in around half an hour.

I was also looking forward to seeing The Magic Flute, amazingly that was a first! I had seen a concert performance at the Proms many years ago and another opera based on the writing of this one last year, and I had even read a graphic novel adaptation by P Craig Russell, but I had never seen this opera performed as an opera before.

It was a dry day and so I walked there and found a park in Teddington that I did not know about before. That's why walking is the best way to explore.

I got there just about in time for a drink but this was a Sunday matinee service and so was unlicensed. I gave the tea a miss.

The theatre was pretty full when I got there but as most people had timidly avoided the front-row I decided to sit there.  As is the tradition with the theatre these days, some of the cast came on stage before the performance started and so my usual picture of the stage-from-my-seat also captured a monk.

The music was recorded and the conductor sat to the right of the stage waiving to the singers and pressing buttons.

There was a large cast with a good range of voices all but one of which I could follow easily, obviously there were no surtitles here.

Despite my good previous experiences at the Normansfield I was pleasantly surprised by both the singing and the acting.

I was not expecting the show to be amateurish (in any sense of the word) but this was not Glyndebourne and I had reduced my expectations accordingly. That was a mistake as it was an excellent production that told the story very well and did the music justice with some fine singing.

Papageno led the way, as he should. He may be the light relief to the hero Tamino but it is songs that most people know. The light relief is also an important part of the opera and this production made me laugh in all the right places.

The other role that caught my eye was the baddie Monostatos who just oozed malevolence. There is also a worthy mention for the three ladies who, in a period production, wore fetching black outfits, one complete with guns in leg holsters.

The Magic Flute enthralled me throughout. This was an excellent production that showed how opera can be dramatic, comic and, above all, lyrical.

Così Fan Tutte at the Normansfield Theatre

I like it when I have easy decisions to make, and this was as easy as they come - a Mozart opera in a quaint local theatre in aid of charity.

The opera was the easy comedy Cosi Fan Tutte (a.k.a. Women are Like That), the theatre was the Normansfield, part of the Langdon Down Centre in Teddington, and the charity was the Down's Syndrome Association.

In case you missed the connection, Down's Syndrome is named after Dr John Langdon Down whose house has become the Langdon Down Centre.

This was a semi-concert performance in that the set did not change but the singers did move around the stage a little and acted out the scenes as well as sing them.

I like this halfway-house approach and, to be honest, often think that the elaborate sets, fancy costumes and abundant extras add little to the experience.

The music was provided by a solitary piano, that's the black blob at the bottom of the screen. I was in the front row and found the piano a little loud at times but the people at the back had to be able to hear too. I was still able to follow the singing easily and, through that, the story.

It felt a little odd watching an opera without surtitles even though they were not needed.

Cosi Fan Tutte tells the tale of two pairs of lovers. A friend of the men says that all women are fickle in love and says that he can prove it. A large bet is made. The men then say that they have to go to war only to reappear in disguise. They then try to seduce each other's girlfriend with some degree of success, though it all ends very happily.

The performance was marvellous.

The small cast of six all sang and acted well. I particularly liked the women's chambermaid, who was part of the plot to trick them, as the mischief shone through he face. She won the acting prize (or would have done if there had been one) while the older of the two ladies won the singing prize (ditto).

It was all rather nicely done, a humorous story played to make the most of the comedy while also letting the music show off its beauty.

Carmen at Normansfield Theatre

If ever an event had "go to me" written all over it then it was this one.

Carmen is a great opera full of audience-friendly tunes, I had not been to the recently restored Victorian delight that is Normansfield Theatre before, and all the proceeds were for the charity that is based there, the Down’s Syndrome Association (Down's Syndrome takes its name from Dr John Langdon Down who established Normansfield Hospital).

So it came to pass that I went to my second opera of the year the day after the first one.

Arriving promptly (the internet and open data make catching buses so easy these days) I went downstairs to the temporary bar for a bottle of (sadly American) Budweiser. Even in the basement the building impressed with its period structure such as the decorated yet simple metal pillars, the sort that adorn railway stations across the country.

To add further interest there were a couple of large wooden models of ships and any boy, or any age, would be impressed by their level of detail and their scale.

Also impressive is the theatre itself.

The basic construction is like a school stage with a high platform and a flat hall filled with ordinary chairs.

The decoration is anything but ordinary and the hall is a richness of colour and detail. This tells you that something special is going to happen.

And it does.

The opening of Carmen reminds you just how tuneful the opera is as the overture plants tempting snippets of music that you know will be brought to fruition later.

The opera lives or dies on the person playing Carmen and to be a success she must both sing beautifully and convince you that she is a wild temptress who drives men crazy with desire for her. This Carmen comfortably accomplished both.

There were strengths and weaknesses elsewhere but the average performance was a high average and Carmen raised the overall score even higher.

I went expecting to enjoy the building and the music while putting up with the performance but that was just me being pessimistic and I delighted in all three. This was a jolly night out (despite all the on-stage drama) and one that I'll cherish.