A CHRISTMAS SYMPHONY? MORE LIKE A TRIBUTE
TO A SELF-ANOINTED OPERA DIVA QUEEN
Now an annual tradition, the international tour of Sarah Brightman’s A Christmas Symphony first began in 2022. Then she visited 22 cities in Canada and the US in 2023. This year, the tour includes 14 new cities in the Western United States and Mexico through December 18. Not knowing what to expect, I decided to attend her show at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on December 15 to discover why she has such devoted fans around the globe.
Knowing her history originating the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, I was expecting more of a show filled with just Christmas songs, not the operatic concert I experienced during which she strolled off center stage about a dozen times while shaking her assets in many tight-fitting sequined evening gowns, each with its own large tiara crown. Was it just to make her look taller? Or to look like the sun? Or to create the aura of watching a Queen showing off her regal wardrobe? Whatever it was, all it did was convince me how much of a Diva with a capital “D” she is, looking to be admired on a spotlight-enhanced pedestal rather than being herself and sharing from her heart and soul.
Perhaps Brightman just wanted to show off how well she can sing opera rather than engaging with, or speaking to, the audience, focusing on making sure she was surrounded by bright lights painful to the eye. I really did not expect to be in the presence of someone who merely wanted to stand in the spotlight and sing opera in indecipherable foreign languages without translations projected above the stage. What were all those operatic arias doing in a Christmas show anyway? And why did her song from Mission Impossible at the end of Act I sound like the operatic “Love Death” from Tristan and Isolde?
Sure, it was nice that she had talented singers as special guests, including a few young children, and a lovely choir singing along with her. But the evening would have been much more enjoyable had there been at least a program with a list of songs and the names of people performing them. Even the song sung from a “Christmas Movie” she loved as a child in England was lost on me as the lyrics were unintelligible. Two songs I really did enjoy, and which suited her voice accompanied by the full orchestra, were “Silent Night” and the finale “Amazing Grace” which I found enchanting.
Her choreography was limited to simply swaying her arms from side to side, or lifting them above her head to show off the beauty of the robes or shawls she was wearing. Then she would simply sashay her hips in the light each time she exited upstage between songs.
And why was she and her adult guest artist playing fake bells when the orchestra sounded just fine on its own playing real bells and chimes during “Carol of the Bells”? It just felt like she was hogging the spotlight.
Of course, Sarah can sing opera well. And she’ll be playing Norma Desmond in the revival of Sunset Boulevard in Australia and then next year Broadway. But here, it just seemed like she didn’t care for all of us “people out there in the dark.” No real interaction with viewers; no info; no movement. It just left me wondering why her devoted fans think she can do no wrong.
How Sarah Brightman’s A Christmas Symphony can be called “critically acclaimed” baffles me. But then my parents could not understand my devotion to The Beatles. To each their own, and I hope she has fans who will continue to flock to her concerts just to be in her presence. I will not be one of them.
photos courtesy of Sarah Brightman
for tour dates, visit Sarah Brightman
