{"id":1704,"date":"2010-08-01T17:51:27","date_gmt":"2010-08-01T16:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=1704"},"modified":"2010-08-01T17:52:41","modified_gmt":"2010-08-01T16:52:41","slug":"not-so-singing-and-dancing-at-the-prom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/08\/01\/not-so-singing-and-dancing-at-the-prom\/","title":{"rendered":"Not so singing and dancing at the Prom?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There\u2019s been some discussion amongst friends and acquaintances since last night’s\u00a0Prom celebrating Stephen Sondheim\u2019s eightieth birthday<\/a>, which was also\u00a0broadcast on BBC2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Much debate has centred upon Dame Judi Dench\u2019s performance of Send in the Clowns<\/a><\/em> (which, for my money, is the piece which would alone guarantee Sondheim\u2019s place amongst Song-Writing Immortals, even if he hadn\u2019t written another note). Dame Judi is not, and nor does she pretend to be, a singer. She didn\u2019t sing the song particularly well, which prompted heated discussion.<\/p>\n

But she performed<\/em> it brilliantly. That\u2019s what she does. She delivered an evocative, moving performance of the song that captured the spirit and emotional intensity of the song in a way that commanded the attention. Ok, her singing might not have been first-class, but that wasn’t why she was there: she was there to perform<\/em> the song, which she did. Fantastically.<\/p>\n

And then there was Bryn. He delivered a colossal performance of part of Sweeney Todd<\/em> that pretty much knocked everyone else\u2019s singing into a cocked hat: the sheer physicality, charged gaze and demonstrative gestures meant he dominated the stage and had total authority: he didn\u2019t just sing the part, he was<\/em> the part.<\/p>\n

The Heated Discussion resumed when he came on to sing and dance in part of Everybody Ought To Have A Maid. <\/em>Of course, Bryn isn\u2019t the most light-footed, gazelle-like creature, and suddenly the same voices debating Dench\u2019s singing were chattering about Bryn\u2019s dancing. But Bryn\u2019s efforts didn\u2019t matter: he doesn\u2019t aspire to be a dancer, and it was a light-hearted moment in which he good-naturedly joined in, which contrasted with the demonic performance he had just given as the Demon Barber.<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t go to hear Judi Dench sing, or Bryn Terfel dance: they go to see them perform<\/em>. And perform they did \u2013 two contrasting pieces, one moving, one menacing. Had they gone to a vocal masterclass by the Dame, or a dancing lesson from Bryn, they might have cause: but it was a Prom concert, where performance is meant sometimes to be diverse and theatrical.<\/p>\n

Anyone who grumbles about it will perhaps have missed the point.<\/p>\n