A Comedy of Arias

Synopsis

Roger, ex Covent Garden chorus member and now amateur baritone is opening his own Opera restaurant (to the greater operatic glory of himself!). Miranda, his long suffering girlfriend (and waitress) has practised for years to become an opera singer. Tonight at the 'Grand Opening', Miranda's dreams are to be fulfilled. albeit over a plate of spaghetti carbonara. Roger, however, has other ideas...He has hired two top professionals to sing with him, and omitted to tell Miranda. Unfortunately, Roger is unaware that the artists he booked through the agency are none other than his ex-best friend from Music college, Edguardo Mani and his American Diva wife, Lori Lynn. Roger hasn't spoken to Edguardo since college, as he believes Edguardo stole his girlfriend ten years previously. Chaos and misunderstanding ensue... Will Roger reach that fortissimo top G? Will Miranda get to perform her Carmen on the dessert trolley? Will Edguardo and Roger bury the hatchet - and if so, where?

Our Review:

31 July 2003

Here's a confession: I'm an opera virgin. Never been, was always a little intimidated and kind of assumed I simply wouldn't like it. So I felt some guilt when agreeing to cover Opera on the Run's A Comedy of Arias. Surely I wasn't qualified to review this production, best described as an operatic farce. In the event, I needn't have worried.

Arias comes care of several of the same creatives behind Zipp!, the zany Gyles Brandreth-led revue seen earlier this year in the West End. As Zipp! did with musical theatre, Arias does with opera, providing an evening of "greatest hits" snippets (albeit in less frenetic and more discerning fashion) that manages to appeal to both lovers and loathers, experts and ignoramuses of the genre.

Arias differs from Zipp! in that it has a proper book rather than just between-songs p...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.136.12.200) - 27 August 2003:

A very weak comedy and a bit of a drag....

Read more and add your own review