Musicals, maestro, please

Halle Orchestra: “That’s Show Business,” Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Last night’s show with all the glitz of decades of stage musicals was the perfect antidote to Christmas’s over- indulgence.

The stage burst into life with the famous orchestra playing the overture from “Chicago” to announce vocalist Gemma O’Duffy who teamed up with Christian Jon Billett to blast out hits from everything from “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera” to “Les Miserables” and “Blood Brothers.”

They did most of the works proud, appearing under conductor Carl Davis.

The Halle performed a handful of pieces without singers, but for the most part it acted as backing to the soloists who took command of the stage.

Christian was phenomenal in his “big song” renditions, with his rich voice giving spine-tingling performances of “Maria”, “Music of the Night” and “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” from “Les Miserables”.

But he didn’t quite hit the spot with “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” from “Dirty Dancing” and “Fame”, neither of which offered the scope to do his voice justice.

Gemma gave some enjoyable performances and made a brave attempt at “Don’t Rain on My Parade”. The song belongs to Barbara Streisand and it would be a rare voice indeed which could follow her in a piece which still features in the singer’s regular repertoire.

There were some unusual choices in the programme, such as “Stand up and Fight” from “Carmen Jones”, which tells the story of a boxer to the tune of Bizet’s “Toreador’s Song” from the opera “Carmen”.

But overall the show was fun and a great way for the Halle orchestra, excellent as usual, to bid farewell to 2008.