Witches

Witches
Concert featuring the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and four leading ladies with Ben Lewis. Sydney Opera House. July 15 and 16, 2016

Helen Dallimore, Lucy Durack, Amanda Harrison and Jemma Rix provided enough soaring musical theatre moments to lift the audience to its feet after the finale when they sang Defying Gravity as a quartet. They were not hoisted in the air, as happens in the musical Wicked, but their fans were.

The first outing for this concert presentation though was not without its turbulence. The four divas entered the concert hall of the Sydney Opera House looking sparkling but the opening numbers were on the low-key side.

A giant screen behind them and the orchestra was filled with lush images of giant moons and landscapes to set the mood for an evening of magic and witchcraft. It was mostly pleasing, however for the first few songs lyrics to the songs came up which were slightly out of sync. Once this distraction was abandoned we could settle into the concert.

The song choice leaned towards the popular side of the musical theatre. ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’from Dance of the Vampires, the theme from the TV series Bewitched and ‘Let it Go’from Frozen were balanced against more traditional concert fare from the musicals Pippin, The Witches of Eastwick and Into the Woods.

The four women were featured as they are former leads of the musical Wicked in the roles of Glinda and Elphaba.

When you place divas alongside each other it invites inevitable comparisons of their vocal talent, a bit like checking out the Luciano Pavarotti’s and Placido Domingo’s top C during a three tenor’s performance.

There was a little discussion in the foyer about how the green witches (Amanda and Jemma) and the white witches (Helen and Lucy) were shaping up.

It would impolite for me to disclose my scorecard as all were in fine form. However in the solo stakes Amanda Harrison’s aria in the second act appeared to draw the loudest applause on the night.

Lucy Durack felt like she was having the most fun, especially when she sang ‘Princess’,composed especially for her by friend Matthew Lee Robinson.

In the acting department the duet ‘Popular’from Wicked between Lucy and Helen was most pleasing. Lucy recalled the time she was a young fan of Helen, and Helen appeared miffed when she referred to the fact that Lucy scored the role of Glinda in Australia, after she had debuted the role on the West End.

Other highlights were provided by Ben Lewis reprising ‘Till I Hear You Sing’from Love Never Dies and Jemma Rix always delights.

The swirling music of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Kellie Dickerson, who devised some stunning harmonies for the singers, rounded off the evening of sweet and spooky melodies.

David Spicer

Photographer: Robert Catto.

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