Opera Boys at The Playhouse, Weston
Ok, let’s be open and transparent about this one; I was caught up in a quadruple love affair last night, and this normally totally unromantic female may never be the same again!
The causes of my downfall are four lovely guys called Rob, Nathan, Colin and Michael, collectively known as the Opera Boys and smooth to the nth degree
This time around they were concentrating on songs from musicals rather than the usual classical arias, and the opening songs from ‘West Side Story’ had me hooked and landed. The blend of their voices is pitch perfect and just plain luscious, and the capacity audience was instantly captivated.
We were then taken on an effortless journey through ‘Chess’, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Man of La Mancha’, ‘Aspects of Love’, ‘Evita’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera’, and I’m sure I was not alone in shedding the odd sentimental tear during the evening; the difference being that most people started towards the end during the selection from ‘Les Mis’ and I was already gone in ‘Aspects of Love’!
This is a stage production and a cast that is polished, honed and pretty damn near perfect, but they has a surprise for us this time, namely a performance by a wonderfully talented group of youngsters from the Pauline Quirke Academy WSM.
These young people were the support act for ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ selections plus the ‘Queen’ compilation, and they were absolutely wonderful. A multitude of family members were there and naturally partisan, but I have no such excuse and I loved them!
The second half flew by, with homage paid to ‘The Greatest Showman’, ‘Cats’, ‘The Lion King’, a spectacular sequencing of James Bond theme songs, and the ending we were all waiting for… the glorious anthems from ‘Les Miserables’, which naturally had the whole audience trying to hide their tears.
We were sent home on a high, however, as the encore of ‘Pretty Baby’ and a few other more happily romantic songs had us all singing and bopping along, so I left the theatre having been expertly escorted through the gamut of emotions in the space of two hours.
Thank you so much, Opera Boys – please come back to see us soon, because you are brilliant, and I am not yet too old to be a groupie!
See what else is coming up at The Playhouse, Weston
More information on the Pauline Quirke Academy Weston-super-Mare
