Review: DRESS REHEARSAL, Old Sorting Office Arts Centre, February 11 2016

So a "jukebox opera" - is that "a thing" now?

It's certainly the best description of Dress Rehearsal (at the Old Sorting Office Arts Centre until 20 February) where we go backstage with The Overtones, two men and two women who sing well known arias in a pub and bitch behind the scenes. One of them, Steph, lacks confidence (but not talent) and we discover why in flashback scenes to a love affair that fizzled out.

Truth be told, the plot isn't much and the acting is best described as variable, but the costumes are beautiful and the singing sensational.

In his first role since graduating, Luke Farrugia has a lot of fun as Kit, an ambitious young singer. Farrugia can move and shows excellent comic timing in a very funny Largo al Factotum from the Barber of Seville. Tony Baker, as the hopeless leader of the group, sings well and enjoys the music as much as he hates the bickering, particularly amusing as a Mikado with very up to date concerns! There's good work from Karen Newby, at the piano throughout, throwing in the odd pub joanna standard with the arias.

It's the female singers who really make the music soar. Amanda Wagg and Alexandra Cowell have strong voices that deliver these classics close up and with thrilling power - they like a silk gown too! Good though they are, Chiara Vinci steals the show as Young Steph, very engaging as a girl falling in love and then spellbinding when she sings, worth the ticket price on her own. She piles the emotion into the songs and convinces completely as an opera singer who has the chops to make it big.

There's much that doesn't work in this show that some reviewers would want to highlight, but it's billed as "A Play With Opera" and, if you concentrate on the opera and not the play, you'll have a wonderful evening.

And I'm already looking forward to my next jukebox opera!