Three Queens from the Opera
★★★☆☆ Viva queens!
Inverleith St. Serf’s Church Centre: Fri 31 Jan 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar
For one night only, writer and director Michael Scott brings together three formidable queens for a preview performance of his new opera concert parody, Three Queens from the Opera.
Presented by the Queen of the Night (Jennifer Murray-Smith), Lady Macbeth (Elaine Young), and Cinderella (Caroline Warburton), the “concertino” designed to celebrate opera queens goes off the rails immediately— beginning with the revelation that the first two queens were under the impression that the Queen of Spades was a person, not a playing card, and Cinderella has had to fill in last minute… despite not being crowned during her opera, thus calling her legitimacy as a queen into question.
Elaine Young (Lady Macbeth), Caroline Warburton (Cinderella) and Jennifer Murray-Smith (Queen of the Night). Pic: Michael Scott.
The queens romp through their setlist of parody arias from their respective operas (and others, and a few strays from outside the genre) with delightful wittiness and strong vocals. Their songs tied together by intermittent dialogue on the themes of being a queen and who qualifies, and how while men can be both fun and useful, you don’t need one to be a queen, with Lady Macbeth ultimately falling sway to Cinderella’s charms, and dragging the Queen of the Night with her, until they all finish slightly-competitive friends.
All three queens hold their own with both vocal chops and comedy, maintaining distinct personas and excellent comic timing. The brevity of the production in its current form lends itself well to its simple staging, and utilitarian lighting from Gordon Hughes. Although the lighting overall leans a bit too much into deep amber, there are some lovely looks, particularly during “Kicked off her heels (Dido’s Lament)”.
This preview performance is a bit rough and ready, with a quick false-start at the beginning (resulting in a cheerful “thank you, come back next week” from the tech table and appreciative laughter and applause from an audience who had already “come back next week”, due to Storm Éowyn), a few fumbles with timing, some stray pitches here and there, and performers not quite finding their light at times — but as a first preview, these are things easily forgiven.
panache
Such faults are easily outshone by the cleverness of Scott’s writing and the panache with which Murray-Smith, Young, and Warburton perform it. Young in particular has a knack for dry comic delivery, her Lady Macbeth never hesitating to say what she really thinks, or thirst over the messenger come to deliver her husband’s letter (“he was so hot!”).
Jennifer Murray-Smith, Caroline Warburton, and Elaine Young. Pic: Michael Scott.
The production’s only major fault is how short it is. Several of its numbers, such as the parodies on Dido’s Lament, Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (the Queen of the Night aria), and Habanera, are begging for more time, both in themselves and for their potential storytelling value with Scott’s re-written lyrics.
The whole piece could do with being fleshed out further: but as plans are in the works to develop Three Queens from the Opera for a Fringe debut, there will hopefully be more to see in the future. As Scott writes, those putting on the production are “not a company, just a group of like-minded amateurs putting on a show written on a whim to amuse and delight in our differences and musical diversity”.
Amusement: check. Delight: double check. Viva the queens in opera!
Running time: Thirty-five minutes (no interval)
Inverleith St. Serf’s Church Centre, 1a Clark Road, EH5 3BD.
Fri 31 January 2025
One performance: 8:00pm
Details: Facebook event.
Caroline Warburton, Jennifer Murray-Smith and Elaine Young. Pic: Michael Scott.
ENDS
