Download the new logos for the programme and poster competition

Copacabana

Author: David Slater

Information

Date
16th November 2012
Society
Burnley Light Opera Society
Venue
Mechanics Theatre
Type of Production
Musical
Director
Anthony Williams
Musical Director
Jonathan Chalker
Choreographer
Anthony Williams

For sumptuous spectacle, productions from Burnley Light Opera take some beating. For many years now, BLOS have provided theatrical entertainment of the most polished and professional standard and 'Copacabana' was no exception. The show is certainly more surface and glitter than deep and meaningful but for all the shows fluffy inconsequentiality and polished artifice, BLOS crafted a wonderful evening's entertainment, making the most of this light and frothy piece. The show takes the famous Barry Manilow song as its starting point and weaves the song's narrative into a celebration of the conventions of the stage musical - the small town girl with a dream in her heart, the poor boy made good etc - with feathers, sequins and sparkle by the diamante encrusted champagne bucket-load. The show is playful and light-hearted and every aspect of the production made a virtue of 'Copacabana's camp excess, never taking itself too seriously yet investing every moment with a devil-may care brio. A thoughtful and considered production, it scored in every respect: it would be difficult to imagine a more insightful, accurate, better-looking or better-sounding production of 'Copacabana' than this and the whole team at BLOS should be immensely proud of their achievement.

Taking the players first. James Cockerill and Sophie Lord led the cast as Tony and Lola and their 'real life' counterparts, Stephen and Samantha (for the uninitiated, the show is a product of Stephen's imagination - a conceit not half as clever as it thinks it is to be honest but which at least shows that Barry Manilow and company gave slightly more than two minutes thought to devising the show.) Smoothly capable performances from both James and Sophie - their every appearance on stage fizzing with a commanding energy - meant that the audience joined in happily in accompanying them on their flights of fancy. Vocally strong in all of their numbers (and with James' ever-present melismas adding an appropriately 'showbiz' feel to proceedings!)  both performers brought style and panache to the stage and were a pleasure to watch and to hear. Sophie in particular brought a considerable maturity to the role and made a superb Lola. Geoff Baron excelled as Rico, the villain of the piece and demonstrating his range and ability, managed to bring a grounded believability to a character which in lesser hands could have come across as Al Capone by way of Abanazer. Geoff is a performer of real ability and his reading of the role lifted Rico out of the bracket of mere moustache-twirling melodramatic miscreant. David Norris and Tori Green made a superb pairing as mismatched couple Sam and Gladys: David as always effortlessly entertaining and Tori almost stealing the show from under the noses of the rest of the cast with a blithely brilliant, cracklingly confident performance. Incredibly impressive. Ann Mason as Conchita Alvarez brought poise and polish to her portrayal of the woman scorned - a touch of real class. Smaller roles were carried off with the whip-crack smartness the show demands and showed that the whole ensemble had been both well-drilled and buoyed-up with an enthusiastic spirit, working together to create an integrated and thought-through production. This is a show which stands or falls on capturing just the right tone and a feel for exactly how to play each scene, each line of dialogue, every slyly sardonic aside. The whole cast 'got it' and it is a testament to the skill of director Anthony Williams that the show was treated just right: more than that, the show was given an insightful and understanding treatment which elevated it into something more than merely being the sum of its parts.

Musical numbers under the direction of Jonathan Chalker and the presence of a sumptuous sounding orchestra had the requisite pizzazz for such a showy show: it is a remarkable feat to make even the flounciest and most brazen musical frippery sound spectacular but Jonathan and his orchestra did it with every number. Jonathan had clearly worked hard to create a wonderful sound from the players both on stage and in the pit. A reasonably simple but incredibly effective set from David Walton – the master of his art - looked amazing, helped along by a fantastic lighting plot, adding to the glamour of the evening.  Of course, the show would be nothing without the spectacle of the dance numbers and the production didn't disappoint here either with musical numbers hitting the stage thick and fast, each more spectacular than the last.

Anthony Williams, ably assisted by dance captain Liz Wood, conjured up one spellbinding routine after another: the fantastic Copa Girls never putting a well-drilled foot or a finely-honed feather out of place, assisted by three lithe and lissom professional Copa Bovs from whom the society certainly got their money's worth - the lads were barely off the stage and were usually dancing themselves into a lather when they were on it!  An impressive and obviously exhaustively rehearsed display from the dancers. boys and girls alike: the 'Just Arrived' number in particular – my personal favourite dear reader - was bewitching in its symphonic display of movement and music. The show was a fantastic success at every level and if you'll forgive the rather tortured analogy, had Faberge designed Liberace's candelabra, it couldn't possibly have looked more deliriously decadent or gloriously glitzy than this production.

On a more serious note, the society - and amateur theatre and the local community in general - suffered a huge blow with the death of Cynthia Sanderson just as the show was opening. A long-serving, talented and generous lynchpin of the society with 60 years in amateur theatre Cynthia's contribution to Bumleys artistic life will be fondly remembered and sorely missed. I know that everyone at BLOS was devastated by her sad and sudden passing but with sell-out capacity audiences and a sumptuous display on stage, the society did her proud.

In conclusion, having finally run out of superlatives in describing the tremendous success BLOS made of translating this slight, flighty, fun piece into theatrical stardust at the Mechanics Theatre. I'll end with a totally unnecessary but heartfelt plea: with the undoubted raft of talent at their disposal, I'd love to see BLOS breathe life into one of the unfairly neglected shows of yesteryear. A reinvented Desert Song? A reimagined Maid of the Mountains?  A slick and sumptuous Princess Ida? Or even - be still my beating heart - an Anthony Williams White Horse Inn...?!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.

Other recent show reports in the North West region

Funders & Partners