Music Review: Doctor Who Prom - Royal Albert Hall ✭✭✭✭
Doctor Who Prom
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| Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman © BBC/Chris Christodoulou |
Royal Albert Hall
Review by Sebastian Petit
Saturday 13th July 2013: The Doctor Who Prom Concert is
a now an established musical pilgrimage for Whovians every two years. So
successful has it become that it was necessary to perform the same programme
twice over two consecutive days. Even with another 5,000 seats available to
fans it still sold out quicker than any other Prom, even beating the John
Wilson Orchestra. So it was, on the hottest day of the year, we crammed into a
sweltering Royal Albert Hall along with 4,998 other enthusiasts, a 70 piece
orchestra and nearly 200 choristers. The RAH is famous (or infamous) for its
lack of a decent air cooling system and, alas, it lived up to that reputation
but, despite that, and a large rig of hot stage lights, nothing was going to
damp our enthusiasm.
The orchestra was conducted,
as usual, by Ben Forster (also responsible for many of the arrangements) who
somehow managed to appear suave despite the heat. As on the recorded sound
tracks (mainly by Murray Gold but also including some of the Classic Series
tracks) the orchestra was the BBC National Orchestra of Wales backed by the
massed forces of the London Philharmonic Choir.
There is a tendency for film
music, when removed from its creative wellspring of visuals, to appear samey
and even bombastic. This issue is cleverly addressed by playing related clips
on big screens in the hall and many of these, especially the big sections
related to “The Final Chapter of Amelia Pond” and “The Companions” were as
moving in the hall as they had been on the small screen. Particularly affecting
were the moments of Matt Smith’s Doctor’s grief after losing Amy and the
agonising scenes of David Tennant visiting Billie Piper’s Rose who is stuck for
eternity in alternate reality.
But half the fun of the Doctor
Who Prom is the guests, both musical and monstrous. All the usual suspects were
there including the Cybermen and of course the Daleks as well as newer
frighteners such as the Whisperers and The Silence. But this year the
delightful double act of Neve McIntosh’s Madame Vestra and Dan Starkey’s
diminutive but eternally over-aggressive Sontaran, Strax, formed a comedic
thread running through the evening. Also there in person, as themselves, were
Matt Smith, almost unrecognisable with shorn hair (presumably for another part)
and the gorgeous Jenna Coleman. Both of them made their first appearances from
within the orchestra much to the delight of the audience. It was also, for
those of my generation, marvellous to welcome back Peter Davison, still
looking remarkably youthful. Clearly his regenerative powers are still at full
strength!
Interspersed between the
soundtrack excerpts were several original classical works associated with the
series over the years. These included a particularly haunting arrangement of
Debussy’s “The girl with the flaxen hair” used in The Robots of Death
originally arranged by Dudley Simpson and Brian Hodgson and now re-worked by
Ben Forster.
Probably my favourite Murray
Gold track of the evening was the shimmeringly evocative “The impossible girl”
with accompanying visuals of Clara and the different Doctors through the ages.
This was musical character painting of high order.
The final treat was a new song
to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the series beautifully sung by
Allan Clayton, taking a break from his recent successes in Britten and
Benjamin, and Elin Manahan Thomas. Clayton also appeared, extravagantly
costumed, with young Kerry Ingram (one of the original London Matildas) in the
Ritual Song section from “The Rings of Akhaten”.
All in all, despite the heat,
a vibrantly enjoyable evening in the company of the Doctor, his companions and
his enemies.
4 stars ✭✭✭✭
