The brochure looked inviting enough. Stravinsky: The Soldier's Tale to be performed by the Singapore Philharmonic Orchestra. An easy enough piece- lively and entertaining. So we thought- let's go!
As much as I'm a fan of Lim Yau, I'm quite aware of how young and raw Singapore Philharmonic Orchestra is. I'm prepared to forgive the music quite a fair bit. Although many of the friends and the man aren't ready to forgive that. They're accomplished musicians and went into many technical (and not very polite) details which I shan't repeat. In a nutshell, there were no texture, layers and subtlety. The instruments played, but didn't talk to one another. The musicians really need a lot more practice to perform to a critical paying audience at the Esplanade Recital Studio.
However, what I'm not willing to compromise is the standard of the accompanying theatrics. Besides the chamber musicians and the conductor, The Soldier's Tale is also performed in tandem to actors telling the story that is derived from the legend of Faust.
I was flabbergasted. What I saw last night wasn't even half decent. It was terrible. My gawwwd. With all due respect to the actors, they performed their parts adequately. On a separate (theatre) platform, it could be considered a twist to today's interpretation of a classic. However, in this instance, this contemporary acting really wasn't suitable to last night's production.
The acting mirrored Mickey Mouse cartoons in the 1950s. The actions, the vibes were totally incongruent to the music. How on earth can an actor break out in that Singlish kopitiam accent midway? It was almost insulting to the combined intelligence of the audience. We were so shocked that it wasn't even funny. Humor ought to have some form of wit. Last night, I saw none but slapstick humor. One must be forgiven for thinking that the director was trying to dumb it down for the 'local' audience, which unfortunately had many classical music lovers (and non) in the audience who weren't the least amused. Perhaps if this production is taken out to another venue with another target group of audience, they might better appreciate it.
The stage directions were terrible. Appalling. *facepalm* It had all the sophistication of a primary school performance, but without the charm.
As a combination of less than stellar music and acting, this is by far, imho, remarkably, the most abominable interpretation of The Soldier's Tale I've (heard) seen.
6 comments:
can imagine you cringing.
i would be thoroughly embarrassed too. and i hate slapstick singlish. it does not belong on a credible stage.
Sounds like a mismatch. Hmmm. Brave of them to try though. If they should take the production to an elementary school or another part of singapore, it might receive positive feedback.
i read the review in Life! Is it the same performance you attended? Quite a different take.
Hi there,
I was one of the musicians in the performance, and just chanced upon your post. While I can't speak for Mr Lim Yau or the other musicians (let alone defend the theatrical side of the production), I'd really like to know what you and your friends thought of the music, however impolite it might be. We're all amateurs or music students and as you can imagine, Stravinsky rates rather high on the difficulty scale - although of course that's no excuse.
If I may say something in our defence: I'm sure you know better than I do what a sorry state our local classical music scene is in, and how starved we are of talent, experience, resources and audiences. Trust me, the musicians all know the concert was far from perfect, but I think it was a step in developing us as musicians and developing the audience's sophistication as listeners. And the young, raw musicians you and your friends heard the other night are going to learn, seriously and sincerely, from the entire experience, and grow from it.
And regarding the theatre, the story of the Soldier's Tale is after all in the morality play tradition. The text isn't exactly rich in literary or dramatic merit - on the contrary, it's often crude and unsubtle. It's a simple folk tale. Morality plays and folk tales often appealed to the lowest common denominator to get their point across. So for the humour and acting to have been slapstick was, I felt, not entirely unjustifiable. Indeed, the more blatant elements were already toned down, and there was a debate over the "Mat" accent (I think you're referring to the part where the soldier hears the news about the king's daughter). But not being involved in the theatrical side of the production, I can't really comment.
Anyhow, in the spirit of developing a frank conversation between critic and artist, I hope you'll leave me an email or a message on my blog - you can get it from my profile.
Cheers!
mistipurple: alot depends on context. in this case, it doesn't really appeal to us.
meteor: perhaps.
queenie: i read the review too. o_O
maycontainpeanuts: Appreciate your comment.
I'll let the friends know and it's for their decision whether to email you.
I can't speak for all of the audience. I only speak for 10 who've made their opinions clear. Basically, we didn't mind the music. We are prepared for a raw feel because the Philharmonic is not a professional orchestra that way. Performances are for exposure for both musicians and audiences.
We honestly would have preferred the Philharmonic without the theatre portion. Or the theatre without the musicians. Separately, both would have been fine. But put together, it really didn't mesh well. We felt that the stage directions were incongruent to the music. Your point is noted on that the fact that it's a simple folk tale. The brilliance lies in the interpretation of it. Unfortunately, we've seen different productions express it in vastly different ways. Those were simple and in better ways rather than Sunday night's particular brand of slapstick.
Again, if the production is taken out of the Recital Studio, to go out to another venue, another audience, the reaction will quite frankly, be a total contrast to ours.
It's always a gamble either way on audience reactions. So it really didn't go down well for the 10 of us. Who knows- we could be the minority. The majority might view it as a daring interpretation and enjoy it as a breath of fresh air.
That said, it's not going to stop us from watching more of Philharmonic's productions. We've had good ones too.
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