Is there a great stage musical waiting to trill its way out of every classic ‘straight’ play? If US composer and librettist Michael John LaChiusa’s 2006 adaptation of ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ is anything to go by, the answer is probably ‘no’.
Lorca’s 1936 tragedy is about conformity and repression – emotional (and by implication political) straitjacketing – whereas LaChiusa’s flamenco-flavoured musical version provides the protagonists with almost unlimited opportunities to sing their woes, with the result that their longing becomes positively – and paradoxically – in-your-face.
Repression can rarely have been given such full-throated, hyper-energetic expression as in Katherine Hare’s strident production. At times Bernarda’s five daughters belt it out and hoof it up like proto-Spice Girls.
There’s unquestionable skill in the performances of both cast and band, but given the intimacy of the venue the staging can be unnervingly OTT. There’s a moment towards the end when Adela, preparing for a tryst, sings, ‘We must be quiet!’ whereupon her words are taken up by her sisters until they become very, very loud indeed. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned self-restraint?