Known for staging extraordinary performances in breathtaking spaces, The Underground Opera Company kicks off its 2016 season at the Spring Hill Reservoir with a tribute to the greats of musical theatre.
Refurbished in 2014, the 140-year-old Spring Hill Reservoir has been transformed into a unique subterranean performance venue. Founder of The Underground Opera Company, Bruce Edwards says the intimate space fosters a much more personal relationship between audience and performers compared to larger theatres. “It just lets the audience, and also the performers, actually have a relationship with each other. So the audience can see the little facial gestures and eye movements and so on of the performers, rather than sitting back 40 or 50 meters from the stage.
“When you’re on stage in a show, you’ve got an orchestra pit in front of you then you can really only see the first two rows, maybe the first three rows of people and they’re a fair way away so the rest of they’re just performing to blackness. This way [in the Reservoir], it’s quite confronting for the performers as well because they have people right in their face.”
The first in their ‘In The Reservoir’ 2016 season, ‘West End To Broadway’ features the hits of musical theatre from great shows like ‘Phantom Of The Opera’, 'Les Miserables’ and ‘Sweeney Todd’ sung by Australia’s own stars, Ana Marina, Louise Dorsman, Bradley McCaw and Lionel Theunissen.
“I was talking to Ana about it and she’s really looking forward to the shows because I don’t think they get the opportunity to see the reaction or the impact that you’re having on people. You could be singing the most beautiful piece on stage and you’re looking out virtually into a theatre full of blackness.
“Whereas here, even though it’s still darkish, you can see all the people up close and you can see the people wipe the tear from their eye... Ana was madly excited about it, just to have that interaction with the audience, because after being on world stages her whole life this is something completely different for her.”Ana Marina is a successful Australian singer, who's played Christian Daae in ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ some 900 times around the globe. For Bruce, having a talent like Ana sing in such a unique and intimate venue stands as one of his proudest achievements as creative visionary for the company.
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“I was absolutely over the moon. She even phoned me from the States; she’d heard what we were doing and, being the seasoned professional she is, she just fell in love with the idea. And also what we were doing trying to provide more work opportunities for professional singers so we don’t keep losing them overseas, and she said she was quite happy to come and do it.”
Whether you’re a refined opera connoisseur or experiencing it for the first time, Bruce says the company’s programmes always offer a diverse selection of classical and contemporary performances to suit every level of listener. “Even at the opera shows we throw a bit of musical theatre in just to break up all the languages, so the opera shows are really accessible to a general audience. I like to think that the programme will elate even people listening to them for the first time or even experiencing opera for the first time, and then the standard of the voices will satisfy the most ardent opera aficionado.”
‘West End To Broadway’ performs the Spring Hill Reservoir 12-28 February.
