WhatsOnStage 'tweet team' member Tal Fox sings the praises of West End Live, which took over Trafalgar Square this weekend (22 and 23 June 2013)
By Guest Contributor • 24 Jun 2013 • London
This is the fifth year I've been coming along to West End Live and the excitement leading up to the event never wavers. If you have ever been you will know what I'm talking about, but if you haven't allow me to paint you a small picture that should hopefully convince you that this is where you want to be next year...
Standing in the queue that surrounds Trafalgar Square a sea of show t-shirts sail past - Wicked, Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages (to name a few I spotted) - the crowd excitedly compares which acts they have come to see that day. Then the gates open…Click here to read the rest!
This was my first time at an opera and I
genuinely had no idea what to expect. My first impression walking into the
auditorium was that this opera was for quite a niche audience and I wasn’t so
sure I would fit in.
So Wagner
Dream is a biographical tale about the opera writer, Richard Wagner, who is
on the edge of death but insists on finishing off a piece he has dreamed of
writing for thirty years.
The play flits between real life where
Wagner, is now in his dying moments just after his heart attack and his play
which materialises as a hallucination before his eyes. Real life was quite dark
and the colours were quite dull but this was a nice contrast to the delusion
where the bright colours were more engaging and I found myself more intrigued.
Admittedly it took me quite a while to
get into the show but the themes seemed quite relatable and I found I quite
enjoyed the plot as it unravelled. Pataki must face obstacles in order to be
with the man she loves.
The subtitles were quite useful for
following the plot as the singing was in Pali, Sanskrit and German and the
spoken dialogue was in English. The only issue I found was that following the
subtitles made it harder to follow the action on stage. At some points the
subtitles seemed to be behind the actors and at other times I thought that the
subtitles were moving too quickly.
As a first time at the opera I thought
that Wagner Dream had a very
interesting plot.
I think now though that my first
impression was right and perhaps opera is not quite for me.
If you are an opera
fan though, I would definitely recommend you go see this one!
