Rachel Portman - The Little Prince / Rhodes, Garrett, Randle, White, McManners, Carlin, Jones, Zambello, Abell, BBC Concert Opera

Rachel Portman - The Little Prince / Rhodes, Garrett, Randle, White, McManners, Carlin, Jones, Zambello, Abell, BBC Concert Opera
by Francesca Zambello

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DVD details

Actor: Joseph McManners, Lesley Garrett, Mairead Carlin, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Willard White
Director: Francesca Zambello
Brand: Sony
Producer: Annie Roseberry
Producer: D. Gethin Scourfield
Producer: David Horn
Producer: David M. Jackson
Producer: Fiona Morris
Writer: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Writer: Nicholas Wright
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-03-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sony

DVD Reviews of Rachel Portman - The Little Prince / Rhodes, Garrett, Randle, White, McManners, Carlin, Jones, Zambello, Abell, BBC Concert Opera

DVD Review: A 5 Star Production, but ....not a 5 star opera.
Summary: 5 Stars

I wanted ever so much to fall in love with this opera and this production, since I have always felt a close attachment to Saint-Exupery and "The Little Prince." Well, it didn't altogether turn out that way. Zambello's production is magnificent. She is a genius of the stage (see her "War and Peace" by Prokofiev, for instance). Teddy Tahu Rhodes (The Pilot) is astonishing: why haven't we heard more of him? His singing and acting are superb. I find that his presence carries the show. Young Joseph McManners offers us a sensitive, finely-tuned protrayal of The Prince. The rest of the cast are fine. So what's my problem? I find myself unmoved by the music. It is professionally well written, smooth, easy to listen to, but not memorable. For instance, I do not hear the echoes of Britten that an earlier reviewer heard. I also found the chorus somehow "untamed" and often difficult to understand. Oddly, I kept wishing for subtitles in English. Or at least the option of Closed Captions.

And now for the great irony: when I bought this DVD I also bought the DVD of the 1974 film of "The Little Prince." The presenation is rather that of an American musical. I love it! Yes, the lyrics and music of Lerner and Loewe do not terribly impress me, just as Portman's music leaves me underwhelmed. But to my surprise and delight, everything else works: Richard Kiley is absolutely convincing as The Pilot. His acting is first rate, he sings very well indeed, and he is perhaps even more physically present and impressive than Rhodes. Stephen Warner somehow speaks to me as The Little Prince, Saint-Exupery's Little Prince himself, incarnate in his every word and movement, and in the costuming as well. Gene Wilder brilliantly zips about as a hper-active and most loveable fox. The great Bob Fosse, at the height of his career, dances a shifty, jazzy snake, even if the length of the dance is a bit self-indulgent. All in all, if one likes or loves Portman's opera, I suggest that one is bound to like or love Stanley Donen's film as well, perhaps even more. Happy the child of whatever age who has both of these versions of "The Little Prince" available to watch over and over again - but I think I'll be watching Donen's film rather more often.

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Description of Rachel Portman - The Little Prince / Rhodes, Garrett, Randle, White, McManners, Carlin, Jones, Zambello, Abell, BBC Concert Opera

Studio: Sony Music Release Date: 09/02/2009

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