La Belle Helene
La Belle Hélène
Royal Northern College of Music
December 1, 2009
THEY'VE gone all Greek at the Royal Northern College for this year’s Christmas opera, with enough gods and goddesses cavorting on stage to make even the deities of the Trafford Centre feel envious.
The subject is Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène, a frothy, 19th century Parisian romp, sung in Jeremy Sams’ English translation. What the show reveals is that the RNCM are turning out performers with a huge range of skills, including comic acting and timing, as well as stage craft, movement and the traditional arsenal of big voices and well-honed technique.
The experienced team of Stefan Janski (director), Bethan Rhys Wiliam (choreography), Elaine Needham (costumes) and Philip L Edwards (lighting) is there again, and they are joined by designer Simon Rorstrand, and the final lynchpin of the performance, conductor Mark Shanahan, who all made the show sparkle from the outset.
In a large cast, there were no weak links, but I would like to praise Helen Sherman who was superb in the title role.
The rest off the cast will all have much to offer in the future too and the chorus have a lot of fun and sound magnificent.
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