By Cal
Link: https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/events/coram-boy
Available until: 9th May 2021
Coram Boy appears to be incomplete, with only Part 1 featuring as part of this performance. But it’s a great opera and it’s free to watch so if you listen to it now, you’ll know if you like it and if you ever do get the opportunity to watch the full opera, you’ll know it’s worth paying for.
The original novel by Jamila Gavin from 2000 is, rather surprisingly, a children’s book featuring three linked stories. In case any parents are interested in buying it for their kids, it’s all about illegitimate children. The youngest ones won’t notice, but when they start to get older, you’ll probably need to be prepared for some really awkward questions. Coram Boy was adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson in 2005 and the opera is based on the stage play so I would guess it follows a similar format, with two of the stories featuring in Part 1 and the other story, set some way in the future, will form Part 2.
The online programme notes set the scene for this opera. An Act was passed more than a hundred years previously to say that the concealment of a pregnancy was a capital offence, as was the death of newborn baby. A hundred and twenty years later, the first hospital for foundling children was founded by Thomas Coram and a year later, a composer you might have heard of called George Frideric Handel started composing a piece called the Messiah to raise funds for this hospital.
The opera begins at this point. Two young choristers, Alexander Ashbrook and Thomas Ledbury, bond over their love of music and Alex asks Thomas to come and stay with the Ashbrooks. Alex’s rather colourful family includes his father, who does not approve of Alex’s musical ambitions. Meanwhile, a Miss Price, who is known to the Ashbrook family, gives her illegitimate child to the foundling hospital. The two storylines are clearly linked from the start: in the opening scene, aa character named Meshak Gardiner is disturbed by the two choristers. The Coram Man, who takes the illegitimate babies to the hospital, is called Otis Gardiner.
Director Fleur Snow’s libretto, adapted from the play, tells the story well. It is a mainly conversational piece with little in the way of arias, but the characters and their motivations come through strongly in the words, particularly when combined with Jasper Dommett’s music.
It’s especially interesting to be reviewing this the day after watching the musical Preludes at the Southwark Playhouse. Although this is a very different sort of work, they have one very unusual thing in common. Preludes includes music composed by its main character, Sergei Rachmaninoff, while Coram Boy includes the music of Handel, who is very important to the hospital which is so prominent in this story.
Jasper’s music reminds me of John Adams and Benjamin Britten in places – and I do mean that as a compliment – but he undoubtedly has his own voice as a composer. The music of Coram Boy is not only beautiful, it does not sound out of place alongside Handel’s music and as I watched the opera, it was Jasper’s music I was wanting to hear more of. The music is beautiful and creates a very strong sense of atmosphere which helps to bring the story even more to life. Conductor Stefano Boccacci brings out not just the lovely melodies but the gorgeous harmonies and counter-melodies, he and the orchestra moving easily between the two distinctive compositional styles.
It is a shame only to see Part 1 because although it does end dramatically, there are a lot of loose ends and looking at the synopsis of the play, there is a lot more to come. At a guess, the decision to present only Part 1 is due to COVID-19 restrictions: the cast were only allowed to rehearse for an hour and a half at a time and Part 1 is perhaps ten minutes shy of that (the opera begins fifteen minutes into the video and those fifteen minutes show the preparation of the stage for the performance). Fleur Snow’s direction includes some very good character development and even those who only appear briefly are instantly interesting and memorable.
Timothy Coleman expresses Alex’s awkwardness well in a very sincere performance, his sweet tenor easily suiting both composers. Rosie Rowell plays a sad and depressed Melissa, who nevertheless seems to have some understanding of her own worth. Edmund Caird is a mysterious Otis Gardiner, the Coram Boy of the title, and Ifan Coyle is intense and awed as his son Meshak, interpreting his music and lyrics so deeply, they sound almost like Lieder.
Jack Bowtell is a dangerous Lord Ashbrook, maintaining his dignity easily despite a costume which could have been funny if worn by a performer with less conviction. Marienella Phillips is strident in personality (though not in voice) as Lady Ashbrook, Sofia Kirwan-Baez is loving but afraid as Miss Price and it’s great to see a countertenor in this production – as Thomas Ledbury, Matthew Farrell’s full, strong voice copes easily with the dense orchestration.
The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama show their
opera students are just as talented as their acting students in a production of
a really interesting opera which I would really love to watch in full.
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