I'd have been amazed if it hadn't said what it did. I just decided not to bring it over as it just isn't worth it.

what else do we expect, after the abuse he gave PSTOPS and the disgust he conveyed for non operatic singers singing opera- anything approaching praise fo Darius after that stance would have stuck in his throat..I do hope something does, possibly whatever is stuck in his earholes, coz his review of Darius' performance bears no resemblance to what I witnessed!!!

Edited May 24, 201015 yr by prettyinpink

I love the higher range of his baritone. I just didn't like opera at the O2, it just prevented so much of what you'd expect to experience.

Thanks for the pics Meg. He looked wonderful as Escamilio

Shame we couldn't really see that without a camera

I thought the O2 was a wonderful venue! I'd agree it was a little difficult to see the acting though, which is why I thought they might have big screens showing footage of the perfomers live.

 

In the review it mentions the orchestra being let down by the sound system, but I thought they sounded wonderful throughout. As has been suggested, perhaps the review was made from an earlier show.

 

I'm so frustrated that they state very clearly no pictures are allowed on the website, only to find that a huge % of the audience was snapping away as much as they wanted to without anyone seemingly batting an eyelid. A sign inside the arena said "no professional cameras allowed, and if I'd known this, I could have brought my now ancient Olympus compact, because I'm sure it would have managed one or two decent pics. Great that you managed to snap a few Meg, and they came out very well considering the lighting conditions.

 

I didn't think opera would be for me, and this was confirmed, but apart from the first act where I struggled to keep awake(genuinely) I quite enjoyed the show, just could have done with having lots more of Darius on stage. I did think the O2 was a superb venue though.

 

I think the stage was far too long and there were far too many uneccessary cast mebers prancing up and down, or even just sitting down around the stage area. The could cut the stage and the cast by 2/3rds for me, and if something like this happens at the O2 again, maybe even add floor seats around the stage, so people could see the action more clearly, but far enough away from the fire jugglers to be safe. Also as mentioned, fit some large screens so those further back can choose to see close up or overall action on the stage.

 

I can't help but feel that if GWTW had been given a short run like this in the O2 that it would have been at least as big a success as this Opera was, and would have brought a wonderful show to a much larger audience, making it viable for a sustained run in the West End. Those of you that know me know I'm not the usual type of theater attendee, but GWTW was superb and I miss it and many people's performances from it.

 

 

 

 

 

I have to toally agree, BP - OH was nodding off through out, and I was wishing I had brough ear protectors for some of the womens notes - no doubt I am not cultured enough to appreciate Opera..or its another case of emporers new clothes syndrome!! I just took as I found.. and found it very basic even if the orchestra was good, I feel GWTW would have been great in that arena - and so much more to the story rather than as my OH put it, a fifteen minute plot and a few songs about not much stretched to three hours!! it was only Darius that sparked some interest for me - I am considering a new phone, as I noticed people were using theirs to snap away,

I have to say I had a great view for Darius as I had my binoculars and made full use of them when he was on stage! I am glad I did, as his expressions were great, I especially loved the duet with Carmen - just I was secretly hoping he would get some photos in his get up like he did with GWTW as Rhett!!

 

It would be nice to have some of him suited up for the show. I must say that I love the top of Darius' baritone range. I thought he sang the part where he fought and the part before the bullfight beautifully. I just need to see him do it again, more relaxed as he had done it before. I only heard his nerves affect things at the beginning of 'The Toreador' song but I prefer him the higher part of his range in this anyway.

Carmen at O2 Arena, review

While Darius Campbell's pluck should be applauded, the venture was not a success. Rating: * *

 

By Rupert Christiansen

Published: 5:04PM BST 24 May 2010

 

Having won ITV’s celebrity talent competition Popstar to Operastar earlier this year, the crooner and musical comedy lead Darius Campbell tried his luck a stage further by taking a single performance of the role of Escamillo the toreador in a revival of Raymond Gubbay’s arena production of Carmen.

 

While I applaud Darius’s pluck, I cannot pretend that the venture was a success. In the opera business, Escamillo is known as a lousy assignment, a cardboard character with nothing but one hit tune to say for himself. Yet even if one allows for this = and for pardonable nerves = Darius simply wasn’t up to it.

 

 

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From Dome to O2: AEG chief celebrates second anniversary of world's No 1 arenaHis baritone is technically insecure, and he alternated between a bark and gurgle to make his way through notes outside his narrow vocal range. His line was unmusically broken, he veered vilely out of tune and he lost the conductor’s beat. The big aria in Act 2 drew barely three seconds of desultory applause, and he made it through his two remaining appearances by the skin of his teeth. If anything good comes out of the ghastly vulgarity of Popstar to Operastar, it must be the realisation that opera is something best left to trained professionals.

 

The American mezzo Cristina Nassif projected strongly as a breezy, brassy Carmen, and while John Hudson was scarcely the most refined or romantic of Don Josés, in comparison with Darius he seemed as compelling as Placido Domingo. Elizabeth Atherton made a decent stab at Micaela’s aria, and the conductor, Gareth Hancock, did what he could to keep the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in line with the singers.

 

The spectacle, directed by David Freeman and designed by David Roger, transferred surprisingly well from its origins at the Albert Hall to the larger space of the O2 arena. In such a vast open prairie the emotional drama scarcely registered, not least because with highly engineered sound that appeared to be resonating in a tin bath, it was often impossible to detect who was singing. But the cast of thousands in the crowd scenes was efficiently policed, and the procession outside the bullring at the beginning of Act 4 was quite an eyeful.

 

Despite a scorching hot afternoon, the event attracted an audience that must have approached ten thousand, most of whom were, I imagine, new to opera. I wonder if any of them will feel impelled to come back for more?

 

i found this review in the telegraph thought id copy and paste it. not a very nice read. :angry: :angry: I 4 1 wud hav love 2 hav seen it.

Edited May 25, 201015 yr by polly

That was why I didn't put it on - just that it was there and not good. Just what I'd expected from them though. As pip said, just a continuation of his feelings about pstos.

Sory if i upset people by postin it :(

I'm so frustrated that they state very clearly no pictures are allowed on the website, only to find that a huge % of the audience was snapping away as much as they wanted to without anyone seemingly batting an eyelid. A sign inside the arena said "no professional cameras allowed, and if I'd known this, I could have brought my now ancient Olympus compact, because I'm sure it would have managed one or two decent pics. Great that you managed to snap a few Meg, and they came out very well considering the lighting conditions.

Well if you had the woman who checked my bags you would have had no chance.

I kept saying it's my clothes I've been away for the weekend....those are my toiletries...but she kept searching, asking if I have a camera.

Meg actually was carrying my bag with the camera and it wasn't spotted!

they searched our bags too, although I did show him the binoculars as I was worried in case he thought they were a camera.

 

as for that article..if I ever see that man in any theatre I am in, my heel may well land on his toes

Sory if i upset people by postin it :(

 

You didn't polly. The person who wrote the article did - didn't surprise us but could do without it. It's nice that you bothered. Without posts we wouldn't have a forum.

 

pip, maybe I'd better start wearing high heels. I could borrow some from my daughter.

yup, I am afraid I am spitting bricks at that article I cannot beleive he out and out did a hatchet job on Darius for no good reason but to prove a point, after his rant about PSTOPS - there was no other reason for that rubbish - 3 second clap? oh dear, I may get a pair of stilletos...

Do you find that you never believe anything you read in the papers anymore? I find I rarely buy them now. Why should I pay someone to run vendettas against people they happen not to like?

This is just about what we all thought:

http://josuegee.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/o...armen-o2-arena/

 

 

Opera: Carmen, O2 Arena

 

It’s a red-letter day: I’ve broken the bottle of Dom Perignon on a shiny new category – opera. Not that it’s likely to be troubled too frequently as before this my experience was limited to Jerry Springer: The Opera, which I imagine is not typical of the genre, and something broadcast on a giant screen in Trafalgar Square last summer. Clearly, I can lay no claim to being an opera buff so might as well confess that I only went to see this production of Carmen because I have a Massive Embarrassing Crush on Darius Campbell (formerly Danesh) who, following his triumphant victory over a Nolan on Popstar to Operastar, was appearing in a supporting role for one afternoon only.

 

Having established that the O2 is not a particularly suitable venue for comedy, I can now exclusively reveal that it doesn’t work for opera either. The problem is the same: it’s just too chuffing big. This production was staged in the round with an alleged cast of 200 (although I think they must have been counting the orchestra) and a stage shaped like a giant squiggle. From my seat in Level 4, which is as high up as it sounds, it was like watching a performing troupe of Borrowers – it was very difficult to tell where you should be looking, who was singing and, at times, what on earth was going on. This can only be the fault of the director, who didn’t seem to have taken any account at all of the size of the space and the position of the audience, and who had almost certainly never been anywhere near Level 4. It also seemed like a complete waste of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, whose sound was completely lost.

 

I had no prior knowledge of the plot of Carmen - and was none the wiser until I looked it up on Wikipedia during the interval - although I found that I did recognise quite a bit of the music. To be swept along in the story of the tragic heroine, you need to be able to see the sparks fly between her and her lover, Don José, and from this distance it was never going to be possible to make any kind of emotional connection. However, I’m not sure there was any chemistry to see: whilst she was a fiery, feisty señorita, he looked like the fat Boswell brother out of Bread.

 

M’colleague had had enough after two hours and left at the interval, which was a shame because the second half was considerably better (and shorter) than the first, with more inventive staging and a much swifter pace. The use of fire eaters, dancers and an elaborate procession gave an insight into what this production could, and should, have been – it needed to be big, bold and brash, but a lot of it was just boring. It might have been a different experience from the seats nearer the stage, but if something is going to work in an arena the size of the O2, it has to reach those of us at the back.

 

But what of Darius, I hear you ask? In the role of the bullfighter Escamillo, he didn’t have a whole lot to do but he did get one of the big hits (if that’s the correct operatic term) and the best costumes. Even from a distance, the stage presence he displayed in Gone With The Wind was evident and his voice sounded pretty good to me; I don’t think I’d have been able to tell that he wasn’t a proper opera singer, but what do I know. Not so sure about the stunt ponytail, with its dangerous echoes of the Popstars era, though.

 

May 25, 2010. Tags: O2 Arena, Carmen, Darius Campbell. Opera.

 

I quite liked the ponytail....looked the part :)

I think so much depended on where you sat. People on the top should have been warned to take binoculars. We should have been warned that we would have an orchestra between us and the action, making it too far to see any emotion in the acting and the sound balance really not good. Having said that, the singers were good. Darius was not technically the best singer but put more emotion into what he sang. His acting, the part that could be seen without high powered binoculars stood out as being a higher class than the other performers. In a few years, if he continues to study, he would be probably the best opera baritone of his generation. He certainly has the voice. The techniques used need longer to mature. As I said before, his acting is already on a higher level than most of the performers.

 

If this is what he wants, he would work at it and succeed. I just hope he never leaves the self written songs I love to hear him perform. It's his life though and he should do what he feels is right for him. I would like to see him in another opera in a more conventional venue. It's only in one photo that I could actually see that all the cast were living their parts. Darius is lucky that he has a strong stage presence. It'd be nice if they'd recorded tha pieces he sang so we could hear them in a clearer environment.

a nice article, and I agree with it, it seems someone with an apparently honest view. except I loved the pony tail...all good matadors have them afterall