Irish Times writers review McGahon, Tritschler, O'Reilly and Collins at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin and Beauty and the Beast at the Cork Opera House

McGahon, Tritschler, O'Reilly, Collins

Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin

Douglas Sealy

The final recital of the Dublin Hugo Wolf Festival, marking the centenary of the composer's death, presented a selection from the Momke, the Eichendorff and the Goethe songbooks, and once again demonstrated Wolf's uncanny ability to identify with the feelings and actual words of the texts.

The pitch and placing of each syllable is so carefully designed, the piano accompaniments are so artfully integrated, that one could almost overlook the fact that German was not the mother-tongue of the performers, nor most of the audience. With the translations provided one could appreciate the crankiness of the old women's advice on Rat einer Alten, sung by Colette McGahon, the serene anticipation of the lover in Erwartung, sung by Robin Tritschler, and the stirring defiance of Prometheus, sung by Philip O'Reilly. Dearbhla Collins, the originator and director of the whole praiseworthy venture, was once again at the piano, supporting the singers, whether in the meditative profundity of Moike, the light-hearted character sketches of Eichendorff, or the philosophical reflections of Goethe.

The latter's Grenzen der Menschleit (The Limits of Mankind), most admirably suited to O'Reilly's bass voice, was possibly the most impressive performance. And the three singers, representing the three kings in Epiphanias, brought exactly the right spirit to this rare example of a party-piece in Wolf's works.

Beauty and the Beast

Cork Opera House

Mary Leland

Beauty and the Beast is a story best told with feeling and this Opera House production comes close to achieving the atmosphere of magical compassion and restoration which is the purpose of the original.

Broadened into pantomime mode, however, some of the charm is lost, although the lavishly painted and stencilled sets provide the right note of exaggerated French gothic.

This scenery and the excellent costumes are by Helga Wood, supplied by Kevin Wood Pantomimes Ltd, an import which does much to establish the performance production values for the show which are further displayed in Bryan Flynn's crisp direction.

In visual terms the high point is the long diversion featuring the younger singers and dancers in kaleidoscope colours for the song Someone's Going to Love You; performance honours are taken by Irene Warren as a Fairy Godmother whose roller-skates glide her on and off with enchanting ease. The microphone lying like a scar across her cheek is unfortunate, as is the coarsening of Martin Higgins's script by double-meanings. Booking: (021) 4270022