Founded in 1991 and having won many awards, Yllana, a Spanish theatre company, has at last arrived in London with a zany comic opera show, which combines opera, pop and physical theatre.
The Opera Locos is created and co-directed by Joseph O’Curneen and David Ottone with musical direction by Marc Alvarez & Manuel Coves.
Five eccentric lyrical singers, Enrique Sánchez-Ramos, Jesús Álvarez, María Rey-Joly, Mayca Teba and Michaël Koni, in clown make-up, perform a repertoire, which features music from classic operas including Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte Verdi’s La Traviata, Puccini’s La Boèhme, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Bizet’s Carmen.
Alongside these arias are included pop and rock hits such as Mika’s Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra’s My Way, Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You, Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry, Céline Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, Elton John’s Can You Feel The Love Tonight and U2’s With Or Without You.
The singers, heavily miked and camply costumed, can certainly sing. The physical comedy has its roots in the commedia dell’arte tradition. The show is a series of cabaret turns. There are also two sweet harlequinade love affairs going on, which are totally anodyne; one is straight, the other is gay. Que sera sera, as they say in Spanish.
The Opera Locos is very audience friendly; and the audience at the Peacock Theatre was audibly delighted when they were asked to participate in the singing.
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