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United Kingdom The Lost Boy: Conor Quinn (vocalist), Darren Day (piano), John Gillen (drums), Thomas Alford (double bass), Cameron Menzies (director). The New Orpheus, Belfast, 23.2.2023. (RB)
Programme:
Anaïs Mitchell – ‘Wait for Me’ (Hadestown)
Kander and Ebb – ‘I Don’t Care Much’ (Cabaret)
Peter Allen – ‘Tenterfield Saddler’
Hans Eisler and Bertold Brecht – ‘German Miserere’
Charles Chilton – ‘I’ll Make a Man of You’ (Oh, What a Lovely War)
Boubil and Schönberg – ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ (Les Misérables)
Sara Bareilles – ‘Orpheus’
Bonnie Raitt – ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’
Cole Porter – ‘Miss Otis Regrets’ (Hi Diddle Diddle)
Cy Coleman and David Zippel – ‘With Every Breath I Take’ (City of Angels)
Alex Harding – ‘Only Heaven Knows’ (Only Heaven Knows)
This was the fourth live performance in Northern Ireland Opera’s Salon Series. The venue was the New Orpheus which is located above the Harp Bar in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. This is a partial recreation of the Orpheus Ballroom in York Street in Belfast which opened in 1932 and has since been demolished. The live performance featured a number of songs from cabaret and music theatre.
The strap line for the live performance was ‘The Lost Boy’ and it explored a younger man’s journey into maturity with themes of hope, lack of youth, and songs impressed by unrest and struggle. The theme of misplaced boys dominated the early a part of the 20th century from J M Barrie’s Peter Pan to the misplaced technology of younger males depicted so movingly within the poetry of Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and others. Cameron Menzies’s set consisted of a single soldier’s boot surrounded by clocks, pink drapes and tasteful lamps. Prior to the beginning of the live performance, one heard the ticking of a clock getting step by step louder after which ending abruptly. The vocalist, Conor Quinn, was wearing a white frock coat, sparkly trousers, vibrant black buckled sneakers, lengthy white socks and an ornamental white shirt over his shirt. The costume had an androgynous Harry Styles sort high quality. There had been a couple of costume adjustments because the night progressed and the music turned extra sombre.
In the opening tune, ‘Wait for Me’, Quinn veered seamlessly between speech and tune. He introduced this dramatic monologue powerfully to life and solid an instantaneous robust connection together with his viewers. He introduced a brooding darkish vocal high quality and wonderful phrase colouring to ‘I Don’t Care Much’ from Cabaret. The construct as much as the climax was nicely calibrated though there was a little bit pressure on the high of the vocal vary. ‘Tenterfield Saddler’ explores the horror of PTSD and the way in which during which it affected troopers within the Australian theatre of World War 2. Quinn gave an affecting extremely lyrical account of this tune which was very touching. In ‘German Miserere’ Quinn introduced out the biting, satirical high quality in Brecht’s phrases very successfully though the ultimate part of the tune might have maybe been a little bit hotter and extra reflective. One of the excessive factors of the night was ‘I’ll Make a Man of You’. Conor Quinn threw himself into the efficiency with an outrageous camp sensibility that was paying homage to Dame Maggie Smith’s well-known efficiency. It clearly went down a storm with the viewers who responded with enthusiastic applause.
The subsequent tune was one of many nice staples of the repertoire, ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ from Les Misérables. In the opening part, Quinn captured the stark barren scene very successfully. He injected the phrases with darkish vocal colors and the tune constructed to an impassioned climax. The postlude on the piano and backing band was extremely atmospheric. That band introduced vitality and sparkle to Cole Porter’s jazz-inspired ‘Miss Otis Regrets’. Conor Quinn’s efficiency was additionally excessive in vitality, and he did a superb job bringing the tableau depicted within the tune to life. Cy Coleman’s ‘With Every Breath I Take’ is a slow-moving ballad which acquired an atmospheric account right here. Quinn displayed appreciable vocal energy on the climax to the tune. ‘Only Heaven Knows’ with its intricate piano half ended the programme on a reflective be aware. Conor Quinn and the band carried out ‘The Parting Glass’ as an encore offering a shifting tribute to all of the misplaced boys.
This was a extremely pleasant night and a extremely achieved efficiency from Conor Quinn.
Robert Beattie