Classical music and jazz: Preview: Prima Donna at Sadler's Wells
Published: 1 April 2010
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
PRIMA Donna, the first opera to be devised by American singer/ songwriter/ actor Rufus Wainwright, has its international premiere later this month at Sadler’s Wells, Rosebery Avenue.
Although Wainwright’s reputation as a US vocalist and songwriter is well established, he is less well known as the composer of some original dance music and a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.
His 2007 tribute to Judy Garland astounded audiences at the Carnegie Hall in New York, and at the Royal Albert Hall.
Against this backdrop, Wainwright’s substantial fan club will be looking for great melodious songs in his opera, comparable to some of his numbers nominated for Grammy awards.
But London’s club of cynical opera critics will no doubt be looking for any excuse to question the ability of an American songwriter to deliver an opera with depth.
The opera has a strong resemblance to Sunset Boulevard, the great 1950 film about the return of a once-famous film star.
In Prima Donna, formerly revered opera singer Regine Saint Laurent is preparing for her return to the stage after six years absence in Paris of the 1970s.
In doing so, she is forced
to confront the ghosts of her past.
Whatever the merits of the opera, it won’t lack for the presence of one today’s accomplished divas.
The principal role is being sung by highly regarded Janis Kelly, a regular performer at the English National Opera and Royal Opera House who is making her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York later this year.
The production is in the capable hands of Tim Albery, one of our most active opera and theatre directors.
• Prima Donna is at Sadler’s Wells, Rosebery Avenue, EC1, from April 12-17, 7.30pm, from £10, 0844 412 4300
www.sadlerswells.com/