Operatic faves and festive raves fill Bold Park for Freeze Frame Opera’s Christmas at the Quarry

A kaleidoscope of operatic faves and festive raves filled up Bold Park like Santa’s sleigh for Freeze Frame Opera’s eighth annual Christmas at the Quarry last weekend. Rhapsody in Blue Christmas (Gershwin-Presley) opened with a rumbling trill and dizzy glissando on Geoffrey Bourgault du Coudray’s clarinet, wailing sonorously over Tommaso Pollio’s plangent piano and Sophie Curtis’ mellow cello as the latest Trio Tiramisu lineup broached the balmy night air. Soprano Michelle Pryor then dialled back to Baroque for Handel’s Let the Bright Seraphim; her clarion tones ringing true around the Quarry’s craggy niches to crisp rhythmic accompaniment. Tenor Vin Trikeriotis and baritone Sam Claxton pressed fast-forward to Bizet’s Pearl Fishers duet; the classic bromance bubbling up from the stage as two young, vigorous voices proclaimed fidelity with a guilty glance towards the top of the auditorium. There, soprano Hattie Marshall luminously intoned the timeless strains of Amazing Grace, answered by mezzo Caitlin Cassidy on stage; each solo then in duet as Marshall shimmied down the limestone staircase. Duelling baritones Claxton and Devon Lake shattered the calm with You’re Nothing Without Me, from Zippel and Coleman’s City of Angels; honest to the point of brutally frank, and sassy with it. “And they say sopranos fight,” quipped MC Penny Shaw (one of several sopranos to grace the stage). Tenor Kohsei Gilkes and soprano Charis Postmus smoothed ripples with Dion-Bocelli hit The Prayer. A touch of the ingenue about Postmus matched the mood, warmly reflected by Gilkes; breaking to Italian as dragon flies circled overhead. Swelling the Latin theme, Brett Peart – the tenor formerly known as a baritone – channelled the flamenco flourish of Trio Tiramisu as fluttering hearts and fans under a wash of red light set off a bravura performance. That marked a double transition, with Peart shunning the bass register for the cash register, and Postmus shucking off her FFO mantle as children’s entertainer for more sultry fare. Absent Emma Pettemerides (another soprano, downed by the flu), Marshall took on angel’s wings for O Holy Night; a cut-through moment, glittering in vision and voice. Pryor and Postmus chimed in dutifully to a Christmas anthem for the ages, blissful in the cadence. Till I Hear You Sing, from Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera sequel, Love Never Dies, had Lake toll out the bell-like intro, eerie yet appealing in its romantic sincerity, and rousing in the climactic refrain. A robotic-themed rant from Shaw introduced a cyber-styled O Fortuna, from Orff’s medieval revival Carmina Burana; an ear-worm for advertisers repurposed as a dystopian fantasy for 10 voices and instrumental trio. How to follow that but with perennial favourite Feliz Navidad (Feliciano), mashed up by musical director Pollio in a blaze of vocal colour. From there was but a short stretch to Nessun Dorma, an FFO tradition featuring the trio of tenors. Peart led, joined seamlessly by Gilkes then Trikeriotis, as the full company embraced Puccini’s polish and passion. After the break, Csardas (Monti) returned focus to the stage in haunting clarinet and cello over constant piano. Hand-clap percussion pressed the pace, fell away to contemplation then exploded in a romp to the finish. A love song medley drew the singers back with glorious harmony, quirky comedy, and a sentimental fade. Se (Morricone) reunited the tenors in another tale of love (natch), closing on the key word, “Amore”. Postmus and Marshall replied with For Good (from Schwartz’s Wicked); an outpouring of girlpower in a pairing of promise and achievement, glistening in sound and form. Cassidy had us cry a River, Joni Mitchell’s soulful ballad making the most of the mezzo’s dramatic presence and delivery. She then joined Postmus in Silent Night; Gruber’s simple carol infusing the evening with a duet then polyphonic chorale before fading to elegiac cello. Jazz classic Santa Baby brought sexy back in a slow-tempo tease, as near to a torch song as a family Christmas might allow, with Claxton the red-suited object of desire. “Down the chimney tonight” may never sound the same. Trikeriotis turned the tables with Sway (Ruiz), romancing the audience as the sirens in the company followed up with interest and Postmus cut the rug for a Latin love-in. As night follows day, so comedy ensued in I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (Peevey), as funny as it was incorrect, with an easy segue to Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas as the kids piled on stage. A now-customary Queen mash-up closed the bill before an encore drew out phone torches across the Quarry for a festive medley with Hallelujah Chorus to close. FFO return to the Quarry on March 13 and 14 for Opera at the Movies, repeated in Broome on March 27 and 28.