Opera Queensland’s dramatic sister act

Opera Queensland’s groundbreaking new production The Sopranos may take its name from a series about the Mafia, but this show actually contains more drama and mayhem.

Queensland Opera sopranos Sofia Troncoso and Sarah Crane at The Princess Theatre, Woolloongabba. Picture: David Kelly

Love, lust, rape, murder, the threat of cannibalism … just another night at the opera, right?

Wrong! The Sopranos is a unique take on the form blending arias from opera history demonstrating the treatment of women woven together with a poetic narrative by Sarah Holland-Batt, the acclaimed Brisbane bard who created this semi-staged affair with Opera Queensland’s artistic director Patrick Nolan. She takes us from the classical to the modern in the most evocative way.

It’s a brilliant idea to interrogate the place of women in opera by focusing on some of the terrible things that happen to them and when you curate a concert of those it gets pretty grim at times. Maybe a bit too grim?

Poet and academic Sarah Holland-Batt’s evocative narrative weaves together the drama in Opera Queensland’s The Sopranos. Pic Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

In fact it was so grim at one stage and so dramatic that the opening night audience in the Concert Hall at QPAC Tuesday broke into nervous laughter. Me too.

But more power to Opera Queensland for doing something different. They could have trotted out a ready made opera as their first main stage production of the year but instead they went all mad scientist and created their own. And while it seemed a bit patchy at times (it’s a work in progress you might say) it’s a brave gambit that deserves plaudits.

Did I enjoy it? Well, yes I did, despite wincing a few times at the ladies in extremis on stage.

And Sarah Holland-Batt’s poetic narrative (developed with help from dramaturge Jane Sheldon) is very effective and a clever way to approach this show and the screen at the back for surtitles and projections works a treat. I need a bit of audio visual stimulation which fools me into thinking I’m at home watching the telly.

So what’s the best thing about The Sopranos? Well, the sopranos, of course, and we have some amazing talent in that department. Lisa Harper- Brown was unable to perform on opening night but Amber Evans, Dominique Fegan and Eva Kong stepped up and covered her roles and it all went seamlessly. All the singers on opening night were terrific including the token males – Jose Carbo, Michael Honeyman, Simon Lobelson, Carlos E. Barcenas Ramirez – but the standout for me was Eva Kong.

Eva Kong was spectacular in The Sopranos

That voice! I was lucky enough to be in Sydney a few years back and the first time I saw Eva was in Turandot in the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. In The Sopranos we see quite a bit of her and her first turn is singing a piece from Lucia di lammermoor which was spectacular and later she sang In questa reggia from Turandot which was just amazing. So lucky to have a singer of this calibre in Brisbane.

So lucky to have all these singers actually – Sarah Crane, Amber Evans, Tania Ferris, Eleanor Greenwood, Leanne Kenneally, Katie Stenzel (who became a mum just five weeks ago), Sofia Troncoso, Hayley Sugars and stand-in Dominique Fegan. Talk about the A Team! They are all quite brilliant.

I must say I did particularly enjoy Hayley Sugars spirited Carmen. Quite theatrical and a bit of fun amid the dour fare in some of the other songs. It makes you think though how brutal some operas actually are and what awful treatment gets meted out to the female characters who are often based on historical figures. Interrogating this now is timely but as Patrick Nolan pointed out to me before the show – it’s a conversation, not a lecture.

As well as the singers we had a choir on stage, the Opera Queensland Chorus and they were terrific and let’s not forget the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jessica Gethin. It was crowded on stage at times! Marg Horwell’s design was clever and Karen Cochet and Bianca Bulley’s costumes were fab.

The Sopranos is on until Saturday.

qpac.com.au