THE SINGER WHO REIGNS IN SPAIN
Farinelli And The King (Duke of York’s, London)
Verdict: Bravo, Farinelli HMS Pinafore (Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon and touring)
Verdict: Hurrah for hornpipes
MARK RYLANCE may be the big acting name i n Farinelli And The King, but t he r eal s t ar — whose talent makes you tingle — is counter-tenor Iestyn Davies, with help from George Frideric Handel.
Mr Davies will be sharing duties during this production with two other counter-tenors. At last night’s opening, his extraordinary singing stole the show. Mr Rylance may be relaxed about being upstaged by such artistry. After all, his wife Claire van Kampen wrote this clever new candlelit play.
Mr Davies sings (but does not act — that is done by Sam Crane) the role of castrato Carlo Broschi. He was better known as Farinelli, 18th- century opera’s greatest male diva.
King Philip V of Spain is in steep decline with mental illness. The first we see of him, he is fishing in his goldfish bowl. Philip’s worried queen (Melody Grove) travels to London to lure heavenly-voiced Farinelli to Madrid.
As soon as Philip (Mr Rylance) hears Farinelli’s falsetto, the madness lifts and the Spanish court’s manoeuvres to enforced abdication are thwarted PHILIP, (Edward Peel on good form, if a ringer for Russ Abbott, as the chief courtier).
still f rail, moves himself, Queen Isabella and Farinelli to a cottage in a forest where they commune with nature and strain for sounds of the celestial stars.
Farinelli, though shorn of his manly knackers, falls for Isabella and she for him; yet they suppress their love out of their regard for the King.
It is all rather understated and sad and ends, devastatingly, superbly, in one of the scenes of the season, with Mr Davies singing Handel’s Lascia Ch’io Pianga. The audience was rapt.
That piece of Handel is equalled only, perhaps, by Dido’s Lament by Purcell. All the sadness of the tale comes home but so does the noble theme that art eclipses worldly power.
This show i s not i nnocent of slightly precious moments. One or two lighter touches may also evoke TV’s Blackadder. But that finale? Fantastico, Farinelli.
GILBERT and Sullivan’s comic operettas have been tiptoeing back into fashion — despite sneers from certain Arts Council types, who disdain popular taste.
You wonder what such snoots make of the fiery attack on arts elitism this week by Shadow Culture Secretary Michael Dugher.
The National G&S Opera Company ( which receives no Arts Council support) i s an exuberant outfit touring the country with three shows. I caught its HMS Pinafore in Croydon.
The 19th- century dialogue may creak in places, but the show has such infectious jollity — and classic tunes — that you cannot stop your ankle from swinging.
Pinafore is the one with ‘the ruler of the Queen’s navee’, First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Joseph Porter, who has never been to sea. Listen to the lyrics detailing executive incompetence and I dare you to argue that G&S has no modern relevance.
Add matronly dockgirl Buttercup
and a chorus of sisters and cousins and aunts, plus a dotty plot about class-divide secrets, and the evening rattles along.
Richard Gauntlett’s Sir Joseph has touches of the late John Inman and produces the show’s best moment with champagne-cork slapstick in the trio Never Mind The Why And Wherefore.
Sir Joseph i s after pretty Josephine (Elinor Jane Moran) but she is in love with a lowly matelot (Oliver White). Her Captain father (Kevin Greenlaw) has a soft spot for Buttercup (Sylvia Clarke).
There is fine singing from the principals and from a crew of marines who manage not to pant despite endless hornpipes. I developed a stitch j ust watching them.
This jolly boatload moves next to Rhyl before stints in Gravesend, Cardiff, Hastings and Blackpool.