Financial Times Europe - 10.03.2020

6 FINANCIAL TIMES Tuesday10 March 2020

ARTS

Kimber Elayne Sprawl in ‘Girl from

the North Country’

Max McGuinness

Attending a Bob Dylan concert is one of

life’s great disappointments. The septu-

agenarian singer-songwriter typically

stands aloof from the audience,

mumbles his lyrics, and renders many

of his songs unrecognisable.

This quirky jukebox musical (with a

book by Conor McPherson) offers a

vastly more satisfying excursion

through the Nobel laureate’s catalogue.

Set in a Depression-era guesthouse in

Dylan’s hometown of Duluth, Minne-

sota,GirlfromtheNorthCountry omes toc

Broadway from the Public Theater fol-

lowing an earlier staging in London. The

show takes its title from Dylan’s early

ballad about unrequited love, which is

sung late in McPherson’s 150-minute

staging (with an interval) as Mr Perry

(Tom Nelis), an ageing cobbler, vainly

attempts to win the hand of Marianne

(Kimber Elayne Sprawl), who is young

enough to be his granddaughter and

mysteriously pregnant.

That romantic mismatch is one of

several fraught relationships in

McPherson’s story, which centres on the

guest house’s owner, Nick Laine (Jay O.

Sanders), who is struggling to keep his

business afloat while conducting

an affair with one of his lodgers, the

widowed Mrs Neilsen ( Jeannette

Bayardelle). His wife Elizabeth (Mare

Winningham), who is suffering from

dementia, extracts revenge with a stun-

ning rendition of“Like a Rolling Stone”

that becomes a bitter commentary on

her husband’s hubris.

As ever with McPherson, his charac-

ters channel their frustrations and

regrets into boozy melancholia. That

world-weary mood, along with Rae

Smith’s shabby-genteel set and cos-

tumes, seems deliberately reminiscent

of Eugene O’Neill. Nick’s son, a

would-be writer with a blossoming

drink problem, is even called Gene

(Colton Ryan). And, likeThe Iceman

Cometh, the musical unfolds in episodic

style as more than a dozen oddballs

come and go.

You may often find yourself at a loss to

say exactly what is going on. But Dylan’s

songs have the same effect. And Simon

Hale’s jaunty arrangements, performed

by a small onstage band, bring out the

music’s roots in prewar folk and country

so that even the 1970s protest song

“Hurricane” sounds oddly at home

here. Despite all the broken dreams,Girl

ends up resembling a joyously messy

party that you wouldn’t want to miss.

BookingtoSeptember

northcountryonbroadway.com

Dylan’s songs in a house of broken dreams

T H E AT R E

Girl from the North Country

Belasco Theatre, New York

aaaae

Richard Fairman

It is an irony that more of Handel’s

sacred oratorios had their premieres at

the Royal Opera House than did his

operas. An earlier building was on the

sitethen, where 13 of his oratorios were

first performed, mostly entertaining

audiences during Lent, when fully

staged opera was not acceptable.

The Royal Opera is presenting a

series of the Handel works that

were given their premieres at Covent

Garden. There will be some rarities on

the way and the oratorioSusannais one

of them, getting more performances

now than it managed back in 1749 when

it was new.

Religious sensibilities are not so acute

these days and it is being treated to a full

staging at the Linbury Theatre. This is

a co-production with the London

Handel Festival, which has “Handel

and the Hanoverians” as its theme this

year, exploring the links between the

composer and the British monarchs

who gave him their patronage.

The biblical story of Susanna, taken

from the Book of Daniel, gets a modern

makeover. The setting becomes a

deprived Cornish village where the local

fishermen are struggling against waste

plastic in the sea, making this the

first “green”, or climate change, produc-

tion of the year so far. Otherwise, the

parable of Susanna, falsely accused of

sexual impropriety by male aggressors,

is handled with respect by director

Isabelle Kettle.

There is an inward rapture inSusanna

that compensates at least to some

degree for the shortage of drama. The

outstanding singer here is Masabane

Cecilia Rangwanasha, whose richly

coloured soprano is a luxury in Handel

these days. She brings an exalted radi-

ance to Susanna’s finest arias on a level

with Handel’s better-knownTheodora,

composed a year later.

Cast, conductor and director all come

from the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker

Young Artists Programme. Patrick

Terry makes a sympathetically lyrical

husband Joacim. In terms of style, the

incisive tenor of Andrés Presno’s First

Elder sounded like a fish out of water,

but Blaise Malaba was suitably forceful

as the Second Elder, and Michael

Mofidian as Chelsias and Yaritza Véliz as

Daniel gave notice of impressive bass

and mezzo voices respectively. With

conductor Patrick Milne inspiring the

London Handel Orchestra to its best,

Susannareceives a fair resuscitation

back to life.

ToMarch14,roh.org.uk

C L A S S I CA L M U S I C

Susanna

Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London

aaaee

Vadim Muntagirov

and Marianela Nuñez

in ‘Swan Lake’— Bill Cooper

dances and the impeccably drilled

swans in Act Four are proof of Scarlett’s

ability to turn musical, prettily plotted

ensembles, but half their charm is sup-

plied by Macfarlane’s handsome cos-

tumes and easel-worthy set designs (the

gilded porphyry ballroom gets its own

ecstatic round of applause). The role of

Von Rothbart is beefed up to make him

a shape-shifting courtier with designs

on the throne.

This is all huge fun for dance actors

such as Bennet Gartside, a gothic vision

in matt black brocade, but his crown-

grabbing antics at the close of Act Three

are an unnecessary distraction from the

Prince, whose belief in the dazzling

doppelgänger Odile has ruined all hope

of happiness with Odette.

Luxury casting made for a terrific pas

de trois with Marcelino Sambé, who

debuts as Siegfriedlater this month,

partnering Fumi Kaneko and his

Odette-to-be Mayara Magri. Siegfried’s

heir-hungry mama is often just a few

mime gestures in a big dress but was

brought to life by Elizabeth McGorian,

whose mournfulfroideurexplains her

son’s state of mind. Muntagirov never

over-emotes, trusting to Tchaikovsky

and the choreography. Yearning ara-

besques embody Siegfried’s melancholy

introspection in the opening solo just as

the airy jetés and explosive double tours

of the Black Swan pas de deux tell of a

man dizzy with desire.

Nuñez, 38 this month, remains at the

height of her powers, the incarnation of

the violin played by Concert Master

Sergey Levitin. Her Odette quivers with

longing, her turns and falls are timed to

maximise the emotional force of every

step. Her Odile, crisply phrased and

impeccably turned, is a masterclass in

weaponised virtuosity. Catch it while

you can.

ToMay25,roh.org.uk

Louise Levene

A woman cruelly trapped in the wrong
body: Odette tiptoes on the brink once
more in Liam Scarlett’sSwan Lake,
enjoying a revival at the Royal Opera
House. John Macfarlane’s sumptuous
designs and shimmering transforma-
tions are a joy nd the opening night wasa
cast to the hilt, with Vadim Muntagirov
as Siegfried and Marianela Nuñez as his
enchanted swan queen.
When Liam Scarlett’s lavish new pro-
duction was unveiled in 2018, it was
assumed that it would last for decades,
but its fate may hang in the balance.
The company’s 33-year-old artist in

residence was suspended last August

pending an investigationinto alleged

sexually inappropriate behaviour

towards young male students of the

Royal Ballet Upper School.

Plans for hisOklahoma! ere shelvedw

(file this one under Small Mercies) and

companies from San Francisco to

Queensland scratched his work from

their repertoires without waiting for a

verdict from het independent discipli-

nary investigation. Seven months seems

like a long time — how many students

are we talking about here? — but the

inquiry’s glacial pace has allowed Royal

Ballet director Kevin O’Hare to proceed

with his company’s sell-out run of 25

SwanLakes.

Scarlett retains much of the original

1895 text by Marius Petipa and Lev

Ivanov but he has tweaked the scenario,

altered the ending and inserted several

new dances. The courtiers’ waltz in Act

One, some of the Act Three national

Scarlett’s Swan

soars despite

suspension

DA N C E

Swan Lake
Royal Opera House, London
aaaaa

Ludovic Hunter-Tilney

“I keep a record of the wreckage of

my life,” Halsey sang, or more

accurately shouted, at the start of

her O2 Arena concert. It was the

chorus to a song called “Night-

mare”, which unfolded amid

hammering drums,bursts of pyro-

technics and infernal red lighting,

like a cartoon version of a life

crashing and burning. Whatever

personal turmoil went into the

writing of the track, the result

was geared towards maximalist

arena entertainment.

The New Jersey-raised singer is

on her Manic World Tour, staged

in support of her latest album,

Manic. The name refers to the

bipolar disorder with which she

was diagnosed after a suicide

attempt at the age of 17. Real name

Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, she

is now 25 and a bestselling chart

act.Manicis the first album of the

new decade to be certified plati-

num in the US. Its two predeces-

sors, 2015’sBadlandsand 2017’s

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom,

achieved the same sales award.

Her candour about her mental

health,sexuality andturbulent

romantic relationships might once

have been considered diaristic.

But the vibrant performer march-

ing around the O2 Arena, keeper of

platinum records about “the

wreckage of my life”, was hardly a

picture of introspection. She rep-

resented a different interreaction

between private and public, a

louder conflation of the two.

Almost all attention was

directed at her. There were no

dancers. Her band were a stripped-

back trio consisting of drummer

Nate Lotz, guitarist Arianna Pow-

ell and keyboardist Brett White,

positioned on either flank of the

stage. Unlike other arena-pop

shows, the majority of the music

was live, with minimal use of back-

ing tapes or high-tech filtering.

Rumbling basslines gave songs a

heavy underpinning. Big choruses

added brightness and motion,

typically of the straightforward

jump-up-and-down variety.

Halsey’s vocals were versatile

and accomplished. Angry songs

such as “Nightmare” were deliv-

ered at full tilt, or what seemed full

tilt until a furious rampage

through “Experiment on Me”

dialled the intensity up a notch

further. Other tracks were acted

out with conversational ease, a

personable to-and-fro. “I Hate

Everybody” belied its teen-angst

title with a lightly tripping beat

and the singer’s confiding, gently

ironic tone. “Finally//Beautiful

Stranger” was a tender love ballad,

sung withunforced emotiveness.

The sound quality was at times

blaring and rather muddy. But

Halsey’s performance was sharp.

A closing speech about the “sec-

ond chance” that she believed her

fans had given her after “the dark

places I have been in my life”

wasn’t merely an exercise in arena

schmaltz. It summed up her suc-

cess at turning herself into a

spectacle, from Ashley Nicolette

Frangipane into Halsey, a mass-

entertainment sharer of difficult

inner feelings.

iamhalsey.com

P O P

Halsey

O2 Arena, London

aaaae

Radiance: Masabane Cecilia

Rangwanasha as Susanna

Versatile and

accomplished:

Halsey

Noam Galai/Getty Imagesfor BudX

MARCH 10 2020 Section:Features Time: 3/20209/ - 16:20 User:david.cheal Page Name:ARTS LON, Part,Page,Edition:USA, 6, 1