Superstar crossover vocalist Sarah Brightman greets the new millennium with a bold sense of her unique musical niche in this live concert,
La Luna. Drawing heavily from her same-titled CD, the material touches on images of the moon that reinforce its ambiguity as a force known to draw together "the lunatic, the lover, and the poet" (Brightman's revealing woodsy outfits and tinsel crown do seem to suggest a sort of Titania-like figure out of a New Age
Midsummer Night's Dream). And it's a stylistic as well as thematic voyage, coursing from contemporary synth pop through gorgeously sinuous melodies of classical composers (one song, "Figlio Perduto," even adapts the slow movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony) as well as selections from her earlier albums: "There for Me" (a duet with Josh Groban), Puccini's "Nessun Dorma," "Time to Say Goodbye" (performed without Andrea Bocelli), and ex-husband Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu" and "Music of the Night." Limiting stage action to arm gestures, some dancers, and a couple of flying maneuvers (most notably amid a shower of sparks in "A Question of Honour"), executive producer Frank Peterson (who produced the CD) and stage director Bruce Gowers swath Brightman's shiny small voice in luxuriant fabrics of sound. Detractors will lament the resulting sameness of tone--no matter what the style involved--but Brightman's focus on spinning an ethereal spell is never eclipsed.
-- Thomas May
