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Visit La Scena Musicale Online Reviews. [Index] Critiques de La Scena Musicale Online
Queen of Puddings Musical Theatre Company
Much like Sirens, Echoes is based on a collection of pieces by different composers and poets – in this case, works by Gyorgy Ligeti, Harry Somers, Veljo Tormis, Manfred Trojahn, and Juhan Puhm, setting the poetry of Apollinaire, Kaplinski, Rasmussen, Puhm, and Rilke. The central theme of Echoes is the cycle of life as expressed in the four seasons, an oft-used metaphor in dance and music. Echoes attempts to do that through two female voices combined with a great deal of choreographed movements, using fairly simple sets, costumes, and lighting. Performed in "theatre in the round" style, sopranos Jane Archibald and Tamara Hummel, barefoot and wrapped in yards of muslin – called "foundation garments" in the program notes, sang fearlessly, with their voices ringing out impressively in the relatively small space. Contemporary music often places considerable demands on the vocal cords, but both singers met the challenges admirably. If they felt uncomfortable in the often unusually choreographed movements they were asked to do while singing, they did not let on.
From a purely musical standpoint, Echoes benefited enormously from two committed singing actors, the involved and sympathetic piano of John Hess, and indeed the whole production team. However, whether this production achieved the stated goal of underscoring the changes of seasons as metaphor for the cycle of life is more open to question. To be honest, there is little that one could see from the costumes, lighting, or stage movements that depicted the seasons or the cycle of life. If the use of different coloured fabrics was an attempt at that, it was too muted or subtle to be readily perceived by the audience. Perhaps the effects could have been achieved by using lighting and maybe slide projections. It is easy enough to second-guess the intentions of the producers, but one thing is certain – thing could always be better if there were a larger budget to work with. But for now, Echoes represented an interesting and laudable attempt, but the goals remained largely unfulfilled. Visit La Scena Musicale Online Reviews. [Index] Critiques de La Scena Musicale Online |
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