Britney Femme Fatale. But who did she kill?

Dear Bitches,

So I did see Britney's Femme Fatale tour at the London O2 last week.  It was fun.  Very clubby.

The first thing I noticed going to the concert was the audience in the queue with me.  They were indeed mostly the Chris Cocker ("Leave Britney Alone") type:  young queers who one can safely suspect have been bullied growing up (and probably still are) - lanky effeminate boys or fat girls; pink, purple, orange, or red hair; stupid tattoos; even stupider piercings; highly strung.  Watching them, I said to myself this is going to be a party.  And I was right.

The second thing I noticed that was worth of note was when the curtain came down and before Britney appeared on stage.  Up on a small platform was her band composing of two keyboardists, or maybe the other one was a DJ.  Whatever he was, he was one of a 2-piece 'band' and I thought, "Kudos to Britney.  She's not even pretending there is going to be live music!"  And when the video projections came on and the music started and Britney appeared and the strobe lights went flashing and laser lights crisscrossed, and the speakers boomed with the bass on up, the entire O2 arena was turned into a big dance club.

It seemed every piece in the production was designed to announce Britney's transition from pop princess to dance floor vamp.  There was one number I didn't like - her mash-up of her earliest and biggest hit "... Baby One More Time " with a cover of "S&M," Rihanna's latest club hit.  Whoever thought of that isn't a genius.  The mash-up might have been aimed at underscoring Britney's transition, but it didn't work.  To stop in the middle of her biggest hit to sing a song that is wholly identified with Rihanna seemed more like an exercise of deprivation.  Further, because her vocals are so auto-tuned and so are Rihanna's, there can be no comparing and contrasting of vocal styles, either of the younger vs older Brit, or Brit vs Rihanna (see link below for their performance of S&M on the Billboard Awards - if you didn't see Britney come up, you'd have thought Rihanna sang the whole song by herself!).  A highlight for me was "I'm a Slave 4 U" where she repeated the choreography in the video.

Also, I felt a bit cheated.  When I watched videos of the US concert, I saw she had a ramp that extended out toward the audience.  She didn't have that at the O2. What happened?  Did it become too exhausting for her to strut up and down the ramp?

The production itself is spectacular.  The video projections are eye-catching, mesmerising, and really do the job splendidly.  The choreography is fast and never dull. Jamie King is in top form here.   But sadly not Britney.  She lacked energy and easily fades as one of the dancers.  Her dancing consisted of wiggling her hips and tossing her hair, although she does execute the latter quite magnificently.

My biggest complaint is that as an audience, you get nothing back from Britney.  She seemed more machine than human; no warmth, only steely determination.  She went through the choreography effectively and coldly.  She wasn't really into it.  As she's dancing and miming through a song, she's probably thinking, "what shall I have for dinner?  Did I leave fried chicken out for the kids?  I wonder if I can sneak out to a chippy after the show..."  I guess after having gone through a very public breakdown, she has probably mastered the art of 'going through the motions' so as to function in her day-to-day without revealing too much of herself.  She has probably learned to keep her humanity behind walls of heavy steel.  And that's a shame because that isn't the proper way to repay fans who have loyally stood by here during her troubles.  For that reason, Britney has fallen off my Fabulous List.  Ah, the Britney of the 90s.  She had loads of potential, didn't she.

Until then sweet-tarts. Kisses.

Hollie-Go-Lightly

Verdi's La Traviata at the Royal Opera House

Dear fab friends,

I was quite thrilled to see the Royal Opera House's latest staging of La Traviata, Guiseppe Verdi's most famous opera.  There is something captivating, albeit tragic, about an ill-fated love between a Parisian courtesan and a young bourgeois.  Could such true love exist?

For this year's ROH production, the role of the 'fallen woman', Violetta Valéry, is played by the soprano Marina Poplavskaya.  How she compares with previous divas who possessed the role before her - among them Anna Netrebko, Ermonela Jaho, Renée Fleming and Angela Gheorghiu - I shall never know, but am quite impressed by Poplavskaya's Violetta.  This Russian soprano delivers rich and dramatic vocals while nailing brilliantly the coloratura.  And she can act too, convincing as a high-class tart in the earlier scenes and moving as a dying Violetta in the later acts.  It helps of course that she is gifted with a beautiful face to start with, making her more believable as a courtesan.

The young lover, Alfredo Germont, is played by the good-looking American tenor James Valenti.  I must admit this diva has developed a growing crush on Valenti - tall, masculine, vibrant and possessing of an elegant voice.  It is perfectly imaginable why such a courtesan would fall in love with this man to the point of totally abandoning her old lifestyle (sigh!).  Although Valenti is deeply pleasing to the eyes and ears (and perhaps more, who knows!), his acting somehow lacked the much-needed drama and emotionality, especially towards Violetta.  The chemistry between the lovers is unfortunately absent.

The veteran Italian baritone, Leo Nucci, plays Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont.  Nucci's voice is quite strong and powerful (too much in some occasions though), drawing loud applause from the audience.  However, his acting was sadly ordinary.  The role of Giorgio calls for a delicate balance between the manipulative and dignified.  Nucci was fine being chillingly cold on being the former, but failed to be convincing on the latter.

One other remarkable thing about this production is the the beautifully designed sets.  How I loved the luxurious casino set in Act II, with a massive circular bronze lamp that hangs centrally on stage.  Or the gigantic blank mirror in the final act towering above the dying Violetta.

So is this production well-worth watching?  To see Poplavskaya's outstanding performance, as well as the beautiful sets, is worthwhile.  But the rest seems to be a bit unsatisfying, unless you too get trapped under the irresistible spell of Valenti.


Yours,

La Dolce Vita

Faust opens ROH's 2011/12 season with a bang!

Photo by: Tristram Kenton

Dear fab friends,

How frightening yet exciting to see a one hell of a cast - Angela Gheorghiu, Vittorio Grigolo, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and René Pape- for the Royal Opera House's latest production of Gounod's Faust. Oftentimes, such fabulous line-up could end up disappointing high expectations, but this proved certainly not the case.

Let me start with Vittorio Grigolo in the title role, who is said to be the new white hope among the young Italian tenors. Grigolo indeed oozes with irresistible charm (did I say Gigolo?). Being Faust is vocally demanding, yet Grigolo displayed with eagerness (perhaps too much in some occasions) his powerful middle-voice. Furthermore, he showed an expressive and rejuvenated Faust who's overwhelmed with the thrill, excitement and passion of being young (again).

Angela Gheorghiu plays the beautiful and innocent Marguerite, a role she also played in 2004. To be honest, I had high expectations from the famous Romanian soprano, but this prima donna came not without faults, delivering an underpowered start and sadly faltering in the "Jewel Song" (perhaps she was too distracted by the glittering jewels inside the box?). Thankfully, she recovered and found her ground in the second half. Apart from this, Gheorghiu was sympathetic throughout as Marguerite.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Marguerite's brother, Valentin, is a pure delight. His arias are big with precise technical control. Not only has he to sing and act, but danced too in a ballet scene! His death scene is superbly dramatic and gripping.

The most impressive is René Pape as Méphistophéles. His booming bass vocals have demonic powers on their own, so to speak. His presence is not the frightening sort, but enticing and mesmerizing. I particularly liked the part in Scene IV when the “sculpture” in the church turns out to be Méphistophélès himself in a marble-coloured cape.

One thing to note about Gounod's Faust is that this is an opera ballet. Ballet was a compulsory feature of all operas at the Paris Opera between 1830-1870s. It is in the fifth act during the Walpurgis Night that a diabolic ballet ensues. In this production, seductive ballerinas (or "witches") have an orgy with the male patrons of the ballet, a reflection of the sexual temptations between Faust and Marguerite. This effectively adds wit and mockery to the usual decorative divertissement purpose of such ballet scenes in an opera.

I highly recommend this latest production of Gounod's Faust from the Royal Opera House. It's a star-studded cast that contains all elements of a good operatic experience - singing, acting, staging and orchestra. If you don't enjoy this one, then perhaps you haven't got the point of opera at all.

Yours truly,

La Dolce Vita