Peter Pan (and the lost songs)

As water droplets in the river of life relentlessly tumble from high tributaries of opportunity, through meandering channels of duty onwards towards the slow venerable estuaries before settling in exhausted anonymity in the ocean of history, the summers shorten, the liver suffocates and routines are layered like a thick bed of rotting silt. 

Such analysis is nugatory and immaterial for good old Peter Pan, J.M Barrie's invincible warrior-boy-cum-tribe-leader who supplements his enviable ability to fly, with seeming eternal youth.  Clearly dear reader you are well familiar with Hook, Tinker Bell and Tiger Lily so I'll leave you with a simple Wikipedia link in lieu of a better synopsis that this blog could never hope to provide. Here you go: Peter Pan

We saw the opera on Saturday 25^th from the upper reaches of the Royal Opera House.  This was a Welsh National Opera (WNO) production, directed by Keith Warner, with the score by Richard Ayres.  Modern operas in English like this are a challenge for me - a challenge to stay awake! There is no doubt this opera is beautiful, stunning, ambitious, dark, fun. The problem -  and I think this is often a problem for modern opera generally - is the absence of decent vocal melody. Not an aria in sight. No songs! The result is basically two hours of people screeching in a silly voice. The issue is magnified by the English libretto which just highlights the absurdity of the silly voice. 

Visually this opera packs punches, with flawless flying the highlight. The stage and costumes were a delight, and the audience were clearly impressed from the gasps and applause.  As seems to be the trend these days a revolving stage device was employed this time a kind of train set going around the stage in a circle carrying all kinds of wares and occasionally trains. The locomotion is charming but I couldn't help but be distracted by the train theme (maybe I’m just a train geek). Seriously though trains shouldn't really be the principle imagery of Peter Pan, and the production really stretched it as a devise representing London.

Better visual highlights included the walking alligator clock, and the alligator on the train track at the climax. The clock inside that alligator image was done tremendously and reflected in the score to great effect. Overall though I can think of better visual devices for this story, which could acknowledge the fantasy island and pirate ship elements of the story (instead of trains - cool as they are).

Peter Pan himself looked good and flew superbly. I'm not convinced by his voice, which fluctuates between high pitched boy and shouty bitchy man.  In fact the whole Peter Pan character is internally discordant - part cheeky arrogant boy part leader fighter but in this area the production probably reflects the conflicts inherent in the original tale.  In fairness the underlying darkness of Peter Pan comes through well in this opera, and in this area I will praise the libretto (even though I thought it was boring).

Finally this brings me onto the family audience pitch.  This opera was designed to bring out the kids – it’s advertised as suitable for families and is pretty cheap entry.  The stagecraft succeeds for family appeal - an excellent showcase for opera.  I'm not convinced that the score is the most accessible, without leitmotifs or repetition that new entrants might enjoy.  Once again, I'm pissed there were no arias.  It is my personal view but you can have as much stagecraft as you like but opera will still be inaccessible and absurd to many people (me included) if the vocals lack decent melody.  But my views are as transient as the Cardiff Bay tides.  Maybe I just need to grow up...