The Vanishing Bridegroom
British Youth Opera Peacock Theatre, London
A pretty depressing evening, sad to say. It had nothing to do with an enthusiastic young cast, led by the promising lyric soprano Alexandra Lowe, (though she needs to attend to her diction), and a talented bunch of young men, with Ian Beadle standing out. Nor can I fault the conducting of the veteran James Holmes. Nor his orchestra’s playing of a reduced score prepared by Michael Lee, though they were a bit loud, and overwhelmed the singers at times.
Stuart Barker’s production was clear and to the point. So the fault must be laid squarely at the door of the composer and librettist, Judith Weir.
This melange of three eerie Scottish folk tales was well received by some when it first appeared in 1990, unlike her last offering, Miss Fortune, which was an awful flop at Covent Garden five years ago.
The promising lyric soprano Alexandra Lowe (above) leading an enthusiastic young cast despite the depressing atmosphere of the evening
But to my ears, The Vanishing Bridegroom sounds too abrasive, and too relentless for pleasurable listening. There’s little in the way of light and shade, and virtually no differentiation between the male characters, so most of them sounded the same.
These gifted young singers deserve better. And maybe if more of a crowd-pleaser had been chosen, there’d have been more of a crowd to please. The Peacock Theatre was well under half full.
Opera companies desperately want to be more than merely a part of the heritage industry, endlessly putting on operas by dead people. But my bet is nine out of ten opera-goers wouldn’t enjoy this.
No wonder we are all driven back into the arms of Mozart and Puccini.