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Reviews on Members Only and La Belle Hélène

By FranceInLondon.com
06/04/2006

Members Only


We went, we saw, we liked

In this small theatre, you feel as though you are intruding in these two men’s private lives. The play works perfectly well in this restricted environment.
Bernard (Robert Bathurst) , who seems like a normal guy in the first few scenes, he his a good husband and father who very quickly appears to be self-centred and rather barking mad. Adrien (Nicolas Tennant) has a life outside work and he cannot tolerate being kept out of it. This play will be most likely to make you think about your personal hang ups/issues and what you expect of your friends/relatives/business partners at times.
Both actors are excellent and the adaptation from the French version very well put together. Even the French musical clips are there to remind you that it all takes place in France.

Feel free to book, you will not be disappointed.

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La Belle Helene

We went, we saw, we’re not sure


This is the type of opera that you either love or hate.  It’s completely over the top and ridiculous at times but one has to remember throughout that this is all a dream. Yes, everything is possible when you dream. You can be a very ordinary woman and become the most beautiful woman in the world and yes the most handsome and clever man in the world can fall in love with you. Yes, sheep can be dancing and kissing and yes, all sort of strange people can be coming and going with no reason.
Dame Felicity Lott, perhaps the last person you would have imagined in Helene’s part, is brilliant. She’s funny, she sings beautifully and she makes the most of this Offenbach’s operetta. Paris, Toby Spencer, is absolutely perfect in everyway.
Nothing negative is to be said about the singing or the costumes. However, through the evening, part of it is so silly that you wonder whether this is brilliant or completely mad. The French would probably call it ‘loufoque’.
The best recommendation one can make is : if you tend to prefer the main stream opera then this is not for you. On the other hand, if you like lighthearted, fun operetta and tend to be up for something different, then you will probably enjoy it.

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COMMENTS:

06/03/2012 - arijushouse said :

Haha. I woke up down today. You've cehreed me up!

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