Britten; Paul Bunyan

Wales Millennium Centre, 23 August 2013

Paul Bunyan is Britten’s Cinderella. Unloved by many, admired by a few, but realistically unknown by most of us. If this splendid new production by WNO does nothing else it must surely convince the sceptical that the work is worth far more attention than it has previously been given. Martin Constantine takes it seriously, though it is not without humour, and allows the score to speak for itself, with all the confusions of style inherent in it. I was aware that it now lay somewhere between Oklahoma and Candide. The former is now taken as a far darker work than it originally seemed and the later far more comprehensible. Britten clearly enjoyed the challenge of writing a musical but brought all of his considerable experience and professionalism to it, so that the end result is more challenging than any High School Musical might seem if one took too superficial a view of either text or score.

W H Auden’s text was given excellent clarity, allowing the political criticism inherent in the lyrics to make forceful impact – consider the Quartet of the Defeated or the final chorus – as well as the humour of the animals and the lovers. Britten’s score is awash with melody, yet it is never far from his later creations and seems to be a mine from which he later drew.

The young cast sang magnificently, and if they were miked, so what? These days the quality of sound balance is so good that it was impossible to tell from moment to moment when we were hearing live sound and when supported. That some of the voices did not need it was obvious, but at the same time, the quality of all the voices was secure enough that the sound was never less that musically appropriate.

Solo parts needed no excuse. Elgan Llyr Thomas as Inkslinger, Vanessa Bowers as Tiny and Ross Scanlon as Slim brought credibility to their characters and musical individuality to their vocal lines. With a large cast to draw on, many of the original parts were divided up to give as many as possible some solo input and this worked well, given the strength of the voices. Alice Farnham made light of her task in the pit and it was difficult to believe this was not a regular orchestral force. Her use of on stage instruments drawn from the individual abilities of the cast made good sense and dramatic impact.

All of the above would have added up to a fine evening in itself, but the addition of Only Boys Aloud for two of the choruses made it even more memorable. I can’t recall the stage seeming as full as it did for the loggers’ chorus. If only the Gibichung could look this good! That there were moments when the loggers looked rather too much like something out of Monty Python (or The Life of Brian?) can be forgiven – particularly in the light of the number of female, bearded loggers, but their singing overcame any qualms.

The voice of Paul Bunyan was provided by Stephen Fry. While this worked well, the video close-ups were not quite as successful. This was a pity as the rest of the visual impact provided by Adam Young was seamlessly impressive.

I doubt we shall see this production again – unless WNO take it into their own repertoire – but it must surely mark a firm stepping stone on the way to ensuring the work is recognised for what it is and no longer an interesting early work, too easily overlooked. BH