MELBA – A New Musical

Writer Nicholas Christo and composer Johannes Luebbers must be delighted with this production of the musical they have spent “eight years and countless drafts creating”.

Adapted from the book Marvellous Melba by Ann Blainey, their MELBA is a tribute not just to the inspirational talent of the woman who became Australia’s “first great international presence” but to the strength and steely perseverance that made her our first self-made business woman. Using many of the arias for which she was so famous, Christo and Luebbers skilfully blend operaand musical theatre in a story of fame and success, heartache and longing.

The musical opens with the much loved soprano Emma Matthews as the mature, highly lauded Dame Nellie Melba returning Home Sweet Home to her adoring public. As her voice tremors on the final notes of Mozart’s “Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro”, we are taken back in time – and  Annie Aitkin becomes the young Nellie Armstrong, caught between a difficult marriage, a son whom she adores and her determination to nurture her gifted voice.

The young Nellie travels with her family to France and is accepted as a student by famed singing teacher Mathilde Marchesi. Despite the disapproval of her father and her husband Charlie (Andrew Cutcliffe), Nellie stays in Paris with her son, and as Madame Melba makes her operatic debut in Rigoletto in 1887. The fame that follows – and the adoration of the dashing Phillipe D’Orleans – is tempered with the bitter struggle for the custody of her son and his eventual abduction by his father.

Christo and Luebbers intersperse their own music and lyrics with arias relevant to both the story and the operas for which Melba (and Matthews herself) are famous. Arias from Rigletto, La Traviata, Lucia Di Lammermoor, Carmen, Tosca and Romeo and Juliet echo facets of Melba’s own life – her anguish about her marriage and her son, the difficulty of her relationship with Phillipe, and the joy and fulfillment of her career. “Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore(I lived for my art, I lived for love)” from Tosca or “Je veux vivre(I want to live)” from Romeo and Juliet could almost have been written about Melba herself.

Matthews and Aitken work wonderfully together as they move from past to present in transitions that are smooth and easy to follow, their voices ringing both together and alone. Matthews is constant as the poised, secure, established Dame Melba, nostalgically taking the audience onto the stage at each step of her career. Aitken is the vibrant young Nellie, fighting to be herself, to achieve in her own right – and yet grieving for the son she has lost. Together they recreate the life of the great soprano who toured to acclaim throughout Europe, America, New Zealand and Australia.

Andrew Cutcliffe is cutting and demanding as Charlie Armstrong, yet voices his anger and misogyny in notes that are clear and strong. So too does Michael Beckley as Nellie’s father, David Mitchell, and as the Comte de Paris. His son, the handsome Phillipe D’Orleans is played with soulful amore by Adam Rennie.

Genevieve Lemon plays a very tough and severe Madame Marchesi, while

Caitlin Berry is her envious daughter Blanche Marchesi and the beautifully conspiratorial and the wealthy Gladys de Grey. Blake Erickson plays Salvatore Marchesi and the benevolent Frederick de Grey.

Nellie’s son George is played by Samuel Skuthorp. This is a difficult role as Skuthorp talks and sings through a puppet child. This he does with tenderness, in a sweet voice that finds the hurt and confusion of the child.

Directed by Wayne Harrison, with musical direction by Michael Tyack, the production moves smoothly through transitions that might have proved difficult on a compact stage. But Mark Thompson’s carefully designed set allows the action to concentrate on and around two concentric circles that Harrison has used to strengthen the piece as an ensemble performance. Trudy Dalgleish highlights this with some carefully focused lighting.

MELBA promises to be another coup for the Hayes Theatre Company and its very innovative New Musicals Australia development program.

Carol Wimmer