English National Opera’s decision to include a Broadway musical in each season is enlightened in that it both broadens the public’s concept of what music theatre is and offers high production values for hugely entertaining works that are rarely staged.
Since over half of ENO’s funding comes from the public purse there is also a huge responsibility to spend wisely, and many could argue that since there are so many musicals in the West End, the role of an opera house is to carefully uphold the unique mission of opera. I am a huge fan of blurring the boundaries between high art and pop culture and ENO are masters at this. Unfortunately the Coliseum’s production of Wright & Forrester’s Kismet, which opened last week and runs for 15 performances until the 14th July, was grossly ill conceived.
Michael Ball as A Poet
The production team obviously struggled to feel inspired by the script and score and I felt the cast and crew also found it hard to feel involved in a story more suited to a Croydon Panto than the cutting edge of British Music Theatre. Michael Ball as the Poet did his best but was probably more challenged when he played Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang than in this romp. Faith Prince brought great fun to her role as Lalume and the audience were entertained enough, but the hugely kitsch, sparkly- pink sets by Ultz, ironically, seemed dull. The same was true with the costumes. If camp is done cheaply it betrays the very meaning of the word.
This grand musical, meaning fate in Arabic was a huge hit on the Great White Way and the West End in the early 1950’s. Out of date, even then, in a climate of shows such as Guys and Dolls and Wonderful Town it was given the ultimate treatment by Vincente Minnelli for MGM, whose genius was able to get the colour, text and humour at the right pitch.
Transporting a rather frivolous musical into an opera house is already problematic. Unlike great works of art which transcend time and place and which ENO usually revels in, Kismet comes across as daft and dated and it seems can only be done as a well orchestrated panto.
Faith Prince as Lalume
I was tempted not to return for the second act but performances by company soprano Sarah Tynan who played the poet’s daughter Marsinah and the wonderfully funny Faith Prince, who was a class act in her own right, helped me stay the course. The sheer energy of ENO’s orchestra galloped through the score, which is more Vegas than Broadway, giving us a unique experience to hear show tunes on such a grand scale.
In light of the current situation in Baghdad I was asking myself, is it ok to present the city with chocolate box confection filled with badly veiled women and dancing boys singing “Stranger in Paradise”? Probably not. Is the use our most magnificent London theatre, tightest orchestra and chorus and truly talented cast in this dated, meaningless piece of shtick relevant to a discerning London audience today? Definitely not.
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