Edinburgh Festival

Ariadne auf Naxos

Edinburgh Academy Junior School

Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age

Old College Quad

Keith Bruce

five stars

WITH new versions of two proven EIF events, this most different of Festivals came to a close. It has been an “in tents” experience, and already voices within the organisation are suggesting that we may see at least one of the venues created out of pandemic necessity return for 2022’s 75th anniversary programme.

The lavishly-cast concert opera performance has been a mainstay of the Festival’s Usher Hall shows in recent years, and transferred well. Louisa Muller should take a great deal of the credit for the success of Ariadne auf Naxos as her staging made full use of the available space, with clever choreography within social distancing guidelines, and evidence of intelligent conversations about what the singers chose to wear from their own wardrobes.

Top marks as well to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which has been a mainstay of this year’s classical concerts under four different conductors. Here that job fell to opera specialist, and former Music Director at Welsh National Opera, Lothar Koenigs, and from the overture to the finale it was a big, muscular performance.

In its 1916 revision, Strauss’s work became the original backstage musical, and as the temperamental Composer of the show we shall see later in its compromised form, Edinburgh’s Catriona Morison gave a superbly dynamic and exuberant performance in the first half, full of character and powerfully sung.

The headline name on the bill was that of German soprano Dorothea Roschmann, who was absolutely magnificent in the second half, with the German conductor assisting her in proving she can hold the stage like few other performers.

Just as memorable, however, was American Brenda Rae, making her Scottish debut in the tricky role of Zerbinetta and absolutely nailing it in a show-stopping scarlet halter-neck dress, although her coloratura would have won the day in a sweat-shirt and tracky bottoms.

Over in the Old Town, Alan Cumming sported his favoured waist-coat-and-no-shirt ensemble for an hour and a half of cabaret and chat, running the gamut from a personalised version of Peggy Lee’s Is That All There Is?, which incorporated samples of classical chamber music, to Disney kitsch, power balladry and his own song about resisting the temptations of plastic surgery.

“Name-dropping” barely begins to describe the Cumming story-telling technique, which included cameo appearances by Jessica Lange, Paul McCartney, Sean Connery and, at the conclusion to the evening’s funniest tale, Glenn Close (who probably wouldn’t like the punch-line at all).

His pick-up band for Edinburgh demonstrated more luxury casting by the Festival, with Su-a Lee on cello, trumpeter Cameron Jay and drummer Stuart Semple playing a crucial role. They were under the direction of Henry Koperski at the piano, an MD who knows his star’s propensity to ramble well enough to keep driving things on.

It was unclear exactly where the show stopped and the encores began, but Cumming’s final number was one he had learned from Terry Neason. That not only dates it from Glasgow’s Mayfest and his partnership with Forbes Masson as Victor and Barry, but also made a link between two former winners of Herald Angels at Edinburgh Festivals of yore.

ends