West End to Broadway …In The Reservoir

West End to Broadway …In The Reservoir
Underground Opera @ Spring Hill Reservoir, Brisbane. Musical Director: Brendan Murtagh. 12 - 28 February 2016

Underground Opera’s West End to Broadway satisfied on many levels, mixing songs from a clutch of popular and art-house musicals. Highlight of the night was the finale in which the four singers, Ana Marina, Louise Dorsman, Bradley McCaw and Lionel Theunissen, performed a rafter-raising quartet of Les Misérables’ “Bring Him Home”. It was thrilling. It was also interesting, different, and what the concert needed more of.

Apart from a quartet version of West Side Story’s “Somewhere”, the concert eschewed original arrangements in favour of the traditional. Each performer had their chance to shine and it’s no surprise that Ana Marina’s golden moments were those as Christine from The Phantom of the Opera, a role she’s sung over 900 times around Australia, Asia and the West End. The Phantom of the Opera sequence was also the one that sat most comfortably in the cavernous Reservoir space. Her “Wishing You Were Somewhere Here Again” was bliss.

Bradley McCaw’s spotlight moments were many but he did particularly well on The Lion King’s “Endless Night”. Lionel Theunissen was a tour-de-force on “Music of the Night” (The Phantom of the Opera) and “Stars” (Les Misérables), and together he and McCaw gave a powerhouse reading of The Secret Garden’s “Lily’s Eyes”.

Although Louise Dorsman sang a heartfelt “I Dreamed a Dream”, it was her comic turns as Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd’s “A Little Priest” and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’s “Always a Bridesmaid,” that impressed. The boys also had great fun with the same show’s “Why, ‘Cause I’m a Guy”.

Exemplary accompaniment on piano was by Brendan Murtagh, with producer Bruce Edwards a folksy host. Top marks to the company for rescuing the venue from the possums but it still has a long way to go for sound which lacked presence.

Underground Opera are a company dedicated to performing in unusual places. This year sees them in a cave in Rockhampton, a castle on the Sunshine Coast, and a mine in Mt Isa. It’s gimmick theatre, but there’s obviously a market for it given their thunderous reception last night.

Peter Pinne         

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