Sweden En julsaga (A Christmas Carol): Soloists, Kids’s Refrain and Gothenburg Refrain and Orchestra / Josef Rhedin (conductor). Gothenburg Opera principal stage, 15.12.2023. (NS)
Manufacturing:
Concept, lyrics and e-book by Tobias Ahlsell, David Lundqvist and Anders Wängdahl.
Composition and Musical association – Mats Sköldberg
Authentic route – Erik Ståhlberg
Revival director – Mia Nerenius
Set design – Katrin Pettersson
Costume design – Anna Carlberg, Therese Schimmelsohn
Video design – Katrin Pettersson, Niklas Elfvengren, Ludde Falk
Lighting design – Niklas Elfvengren
Sound design – Jonathan Assarsson
Choreography – Cynthia Kai
Forged:
Scrooge – Carina Söderman
Ghosts – Mats Almgren, Julia Carlström
Narrator / Mrs Cratchit – Tobias Ahlsell
Narrator / Fred – David Lundqvist
Narrator / Bob Cratchit – Anders Wängdahl
Tiny Tim – Allan Olsson
Little one Scrooge – Ingrid Bosaeus
Little one Simon – Alexander Friberg
Younger Scrooge – Tiina Markkanen
Younger Simon – Christopher Napier
This yr’s Christmas musical on the Gothenburg Opera is an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, sung in Swedish and set to a large however considerate collection of music – from Allegri to Stevie Surprise. A trio of musical artists have tailored Dickens’s story and achieve telling it in a means which is by turns humorous and deeply shifting. Their Scrooge is a lady, however the setting remains to be visually Victorian, filling the stage with attractive interval costumes and an enormous Christmas tree. The set was easy however skilfully used video to make clean scene adjustments. This and the versatile lighting introduced the viewers into the story, particularly within the scenes with the ghosts.
Tobias Ahlsell, David Lundqvist and Anders Wängdahl created an amazing reference to the viewers once they launched the present as narrators and confirmed off their shut concord in a gap quantity set to the music of ‘God relaxation ye merry, gents’. They have been energetic on stage for a lot of the present, each as a trio and as particular person characters. Anders Wängdahl and Tobias Ahlsell made splendidly comedian Bob and Mrs Cratchit, although Mr Wängdahl’s Bob Cratchit additionally confirmed nice generosity of spirit regardless of the appalling means Scrooge handled him. David Lundqvist was affecting as Scrooge’s nephew Fred, being the one mourner at Scrooge’s funeral as proven within the imaginative and prescient of the Ghost of Christmas But to Come.
Operatic bass Mats Almgren made an amazing impression, first because the quite scary ghost of Jacob Marley bursting out of Scrooge’s hearth encumbered with chains and moneyboxes, warning Scrooge that she has just one likelihood to keep away from his destiny in ‘Var gång som klockan slår’ (to the music of Stevie Surprise’s ‘Pastime paradise’). Then he returned as a flamboyant Ghost of Christmas Current who appeared like he had stepped out of Aladdin, who then confirmed Scrooge his imaginative and prescient to the tune of Rocco’s aria from Beethoven’s Fidelio. This was in all probability the easiest costume within the present, although with robust competitors.
Julia Carlström was a glowing Ghost of Christmas Previous, singing an upbeat unique track by Mats Sköldberg and Micaela Sjöstedt. The 2 scenes she confirmed of Scrooge’s formative years have been very shifting, partly due to the wordless however efficient performing of Ingrid Bosaeus and Alexander Friberg and Tiina Markkanen and Christopher Napier.
Carina Söderman brilliantly captured Scrooge’s dour and greedy character, with a gap quantity to music by Danny Elfman from The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas. She additionally had nice comedian interactions with the three narrators. Söderman developed Scrooge’s character and opened up emotionally and vocally when Scrooge repented in ‘Är det försent för mig?’, to the music of ‘What sort of idiot am I?’ by Leslie Bricusse. Her joyful ensemble with the Narrators in ‘Vi firar jul’ (to the tune of ‘It’s raining males’!) was infectiously energetic.
Conductor Josef Rhedin and the Gothenburg Opera Orchestra performed with an infectious enthusiasm and gave a wealthy orchestral sound to the preparations they performed. The Gothenburg Opera Refrain and particularly the Kids’s Refrain had necessary roles within the present, with the youngsters particularly good because the improbably giant household of Bob and Mrs Cratchit. The ultimate scene was an impressive rendition of ‘O holy night time’, began as a solo by Tiny Tim (Allan Olsson) and increasing right into a refrain and ensemble of the entire forged. It was a shifting finale to this good adaptation of Charles Dickens’s traditional story.
Niklas Smith
