Written by Graham Billing, co-director of La Belle Hélène. Time is running out now and we’re already at the beginning of show week and in the throes of our get-in at the theatre. I promised one more blog before the performances, and here it is. I’ve already endeavoured to talk you through the extended finales
... continue readingWritten by Graham Billing, co-director of La Belle Hélène. The Act Two Finale of La Belle Hélène continues – after the bizarre sequence in which the main characters imitate musical instruments – with the tables being turned on poor old Menelaus. Helen launches into an attack on her feckless husband for not being discreet or
... continue readingWritten by Graham Billing, co-director of La Belle Hélène. Last time I was telling you about the first of the three grandiose finales with which ends each of the acts of Bristol Opera’s latest challenge, La Belle Hélène. After the bizarre ensemble in which Helen recognises Prince Paris as her would-be seducer, the «chap with
... continue readingCasting is now complete for our 2019 production of La Belle Hélène. Role Actor Hélène Rebecca Chellappah Paris Thomas Edmonds Menelaus Graham Billing Agamemnon Timothy Allan Calchas Matthew Deering Orestes Clare Daly Achilles Julian Fox Ajax I Steve Harris Ajax II Saul Formoso Bacchis Ethel-Jane Cormack Parthenis Katharine Billington Leona Heather Ashford Philocomos Charlotte Monk
... continue readingWritten by Graham Billing, co-director of La Belle Hélène. After some general pieces about La Belle Hélène and its creators, I’m very pleased to say that this latest report is more specifically about Bristol Opera’s own current production, which is now up and running and being energetically rehearsed. Last week we concentrated on the Finale
... continue readingWritten by Graham Billing, co-director of La Belle Hélène. I realise that, although I have been endeavouring in these messages to explain what Offenbach and his librettists did to make their story-line so funny and so irreverent, I haven’t yet said a word about any of the music! So what is it like? Is La
... continue readingWritten by Graham Billing, co-director of La Belle Hélène. Last time I set down some thoughts about the way in which Offenbach and his two script-writers Meilhac and Halévy turned serious figures from Greek mythology into comic characters in La Belle Hélène. This time I’m going to continue with this theme and discuss the operetta’s
... continue readingWritten by Graham Billing, co-director of La Belle Hélène. Last time I said that part of the audience appeal of La Belle Hélène lies in the way in which the script pokes fun at ancient Greek myths and the fact that the French have always taken them so seriously. Let’s take two of the main
... continue readingWritten by Graham Billing, co-director of La Belle Hélène. Greek myths? Who ever wants to see them on the operatic stage? Most people think they’re as stale as yesterday’s bun and only have visions of gloomy singers in togas or long floaty dresses churning out aria after aria in which they overindulge their steamy and
... continue readingFollowing our auditions held on 18th October, we are excited to announce our first round of casting! We have new singers joining us this year, and we are also welcoming back some familiar faces. Role Actor Paris Thomas Edmonds Menelaus Graham Billing Agamemnon Timothy Allan Hélène Rebecca Chellappah Orestes Clare Daly Bacchis Ethel-Jane Cormack Parthenis
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