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While soprano Sarah Brightman may not qualify as a diva by the usual standards - she doesn’t try to create a larger-than-life persona on or off stage, for example - the degree of adoration showered on her by her fans more than compensates. During her concert appearance at the Fox this Monday even relatively modest numbers were greeted with waves of applause; and the standing ovation at the end went on long enough to cover yet another costume change and a fitting for the flying harness for her first encore, “Question of Honor”.
While I don’t share that degree of enthusiasm, I’ve got to admit that I found Brightman’s concert interesting, entertaining and even occasionally moving. Her voice is light, attractive and supple - which, now that I think of it, describes Brightman herself fairly well. Granted, she may not be entirely up to the demands of operatic standards like Puccini’s "Nessun Dorma", which caps the first half of the evening, but she made it thrilling nevertheless. Of course, the fact that she sang it from the top of a platform completely draped in red with her head framed by a halo of stars that lit up at the aria’s climax didn’t hurt any.
The concert draws heavily on Brightman’s most recent CD, La Luna, and in fact nocturnal and lunar themes permeate the show. From the moment you enter the theatre, you’re immersed in ambient sound suggesting vast moonscapes complete with the occasional burst of astronaut chatter and treated to a continually changing light show on the translucent stage curtain. On stage the musicians are seated behind a hemispherical flat decorated to suggest an ancient navigation instrument while behind them a giant scrim is lit to present a star-studded dome, a sunset, or whatever else seems appropriate. There’s even a rising harvest moon and, in the second half of the concert, a giant, illuminated sphere. If nothing else, the La Luna tour scores points for thematic consistency.
The music is an appealing and often fascinating mix of classical, new age and European pop numbers, staged in a style that varies from tastefully simple to Las Vegas extreme. The opening song, for example, is “La Lune” - with music by Dvorak and lyrics translated from the original Czech into Italian. Brightman sings it simply and effectively from the top of the staircase, center stage. In contrast “Figlio Perduto”, based on the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, has a chorus in monk’s habits on the backstage platform accompanying Brightman’s soaring soprano front and center.
Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” is preceded by curtain of sparkling fireworks and all the stops are pulled out for “Question of Honor”, with Brightman suspended 20 feet above the stage in a flying harness. At the song’s climax, showers of metallic confetti shoot out into the house while spotlights rake the audience and the final chord brings a burst of pyrotechnics.
Somehow Brightman holds this all together with her shimmering soprano. It’s a lovely show, overall, and may even convince you to buy the La Luna CD. I probably will. And if Brightman’s delivery is sometimes a bit oddly mannered - as in “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” - or her stock of gestures a bit limited and repetitious - well sometimes divas are like that. Her fans don’t seem to mind, so who am I to quibble?
Want to find out what the show looks like yourself? Check out the Official Sarah Brightman web site for her itinerary.
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