.
‘Santa Claus is coming to town…’. Yes, well, though I got on quite well
with Santa some seventy years ago, I wouldn’t get off my backend these days to go
all the way to town for him…
History relates I gave him a huge kiss and he was quite undone. At 3 years old already! |
However, ‘Ali Harper is coming to town’ is something else. New Zealand’s
National Treasure in little old Rangiora? Time to get out the little red car …
I can’t say more about Ms Harper than I’ve said before. She is a
consummate entertainer with an immaculate voice (she even sings ‘Vissi d’arte’ –
admittedly transposed a tad – in her touring show). And she also arranges the
shows that she presents, when she’s not starring in the theatre, with enormous
taste and skill, and above all a knowledge of her audience. Today we started
with ‘Jingle Bells’, rose to a Clooneyish ‘White Christmas’ then rose to the
peak of Adolphe Adam’s Cantique de Noël (maybe the best Christmas song ever
written) before getting everyone except me to join in another ‘Jingle Bells’
and ‘Silent Night’. I couldn’t take part because the keys are not favourable to
my tattered basso profondo!
So, Ms Harper, as usual 10 out of 10.
And the backing group? Well, I can quite well see and hear why they are
winners. From the tiddliest laddie or the plumpest teen, I didn’t hear a single
false note or a whiff of out-of-tunedness. Nor did they make that churchy sound
favoured by English cathedrals and the Vienna Sängerknaben. They sang like
children. Fresh, light and natural. And with head voice. They are probably too
young to be allowed to watch the Z-Factor and Mr Hay will, in any case, stop
them bawling above the stave. Young boys and girls, you were all grand, but the
prize for the best voice production goes to the two littlest boys. Oscar and
Ben. Wide open mouths, and in consequence a pinging sound which walloped me in
Row Two deliciously. Soloists en herbe. Loved you.
Anyway, en somme, even if Christmas isn’t exactly my thing, I had a
sweet afternoon … and Ali Harper, Voices Co and the glorious Cantique de Noël
are an impeccable way to spend two hours which would have otherwise been
spent delving into my Jewish ancestry …
God bless you, one and all.
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