Supremos Fuel Biting Satire on Marriage
Celebrated operatic couple Cheryl Barker AO and Peter Coleman-Wright AO (pictured above with son Gabriel) play out the perfect marriage in Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti but behind the glossy veneer of American suburbia, lurks their loneliness and longings.
Bernstein penned the stinging words and vibrant score during his own honeymoon in 1952.
Trouble in Tahiti leads a high-energy Endangered Productions double bill, Bernstein and Busoni, opening at the Eternity Playhouse, Darlinghurst on Friday, November 28.
Image: Leonard Bernstein conducting.
Ferruccio Busoni’s whirlwind opera, Arlecchino, revives Italy’s traditional mischievous clown of Harlequin with a modern twist on his compulsive womanising and deceits.
Arlecchino (Andy Leonard, well-known for his title role in Keating!) conceals his pleasures by convincing his village that they’re at war - ironic for audiences at the premiere when the Great War was raging outside.
Arlecchino turns operatic conventions on their head. It’s why artistic director Christine Logan leapt to stage Busoni’s slapstick comedy, and in stunning fantastical costumes.
“With so many grand-scale musicals and well-worn operatic staples, Endangered Productions cherry-picks often little-known musical gems and reworks them for a modern audience in intimate settings,” she says.
Logan directs both productions with her partner Peter Alexander as music director. Barker and Coleman-Wright fill out the family with their son, Gabriel on sax, among a 14-piece orchestra and a satirical vocal trio.
Both singers have been community theatre fans since they met as young teens playing opposite in The Boyfriend. And they’re still battling or swooning over each other - notably in Kiss Me Kate, Tosca, Don Giovanni, Il Tabarro, Arabella and Onegin - and together, they mentor and train young singers.
“Major theatre venues won’t take risks these days,” says Barker. “This gives us a chance to do something different. Vocally, it’s a real challenge which we love. This company shines a light on a vast, overlooked repertoire well beyond the familiar.”
Eternity Playhouse, 39 Burton St, Darlinghurst Fridays: 28 Nov & 5 Dec - 7pm
Saturdays: 29 Nov & 6 Dec - 3pm
Sundays 30 Nov & 7 Dec - 3pm
Prices $30 - $70 Concessions: Students, Under 30s & Seniors