Nights at the Opera. Photo & text David Secombe (2/5)
Posted: August 2, 2011 Filed under: London Music, Theatrical London | Tags: Cherubin, Jane Mitchell, Massenet 3 Comments
Jane Mitchell, backstage, Royal Opera House, 1994. Photo © David Secombe.
Massenet’s Cherubin is a comic opera conceived as a sort of sequel to The Marriage of Figaro. It has received a few revivals in recent years, notably a splendid 1994 production at the Royal Opera House which featured Susan Graham, Angela Georghiou and some extremely arresting wigs. The photo above was taken on the first night of this production, and shows the soprano Jane Mitchell waiting in the wings for her final entry. In the backstage gloom, Jane’s marvellous profile was illuminated by just one, blue worklamp – and I had just enough time (about a minute) to set up my tripod and take a few frames before she left for the finale.
(You can hear Susan Graham and Angela Georghiou in this production here: a duet from the finale.)
I was working on a book project profiling a season of opera and ballet at the Royal Opera House, an offshoot of the famous BBC documentary series The House. The films painted a fascinating and not-entirely flattering portrait of life within the building, and several sackings and resignations ensued. As a stills photographer, I was less concerned with organisation’s internal politicking than I was with the sheer beauty of the working environment. However, complaints about the inadequacy of this environment and its antiquated facilities eventually led to the major redevelopment of the building, which was tied to a major re-landscaping of Covent Garden to monetize the scheme. The unfortunate consequence of this has been a further loss of character for the area: one entire Georgian terrace on the north side of Russell Street was demolished, creating more facilities for the ROH but also adding yet more chain outlets to a district choked by them.
(It may sound feeble, but I promised Jane a copy of this picture, a promise I never delivered; Jane, if you are reading this, drop me a line and I will make good on this. D.S.)
The London Column 
What a wonderful face, almost an an ancient Egyptian.and the atmosphere around her. I would love to paint her
So it was you who did it! I can vaguely remember solitary old men with barrows, standing in loading doorways, in Neal Street – when there was nothing else except Food for Thought, and Neals Yard was a hippie warehouse with slatted wooden shelves and kilos of tea in plastic bags. I also remember the horror of going for lunch one day in about 1987 or 8 and finding that an Our Price had opened up. It was the beginning of the end and we knew it, the first chain store, the northward creep from the destruction of the Piazza, and now look.
We were right about one thing even back then though, which was our united desire to kill all street performers.
Russell Street is very sad, isn’t it? Tutton’s on the corner, year after year, seems more and more like some kind of oversight on someone’s part.
Her hair looks like a ‘maccaroni’ type of feeble and pansy gent as show in in Gillray and Cruickshank cartoons.