Blaze of Glory
Welsh National Opera
Cardiff Bay
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

WELSH National Opera had a triumphant return to the Cardiff Bay stage with its in-house production, Blaze of Glory, delighting the audience. This is a joyous production dabbling in the world of male voice choirs and the competitions, or eisteddfods, they traditionally perform in.

Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts and Rebecca Evans have reprised their roles as choirmaster Dafydd Pugh and the choir’s pianist Nerys Price. The two are fabulous, with sharp comic timing, as they combine to resurrect the mining village’s male voice choir after it stopped performing after a 1953 mining tragedy culled the choir’s numbers.

The whole vibe on stage is a warm look at community, collectivity and the solidarity of pit villages, as well as the seam of communism running through its heart.

Themba Mvula as Anthony, a young African-American GI who has settled in the village, helps kick-start the choir and sings about solidarity and how he is red through and through.

To compete in the next Eisteddfod they need to learn to yodel to perform Ambroise Thomas’s Le Tyrol. In a laugh-out-loud series of escapades they decide to poach Feargal Hyton’s Bryn Bevan, aka Bryn the Brew, or the bearded alto, from nearby Treorchy. Bryn is a communist who is finding it difficult to get singing parts so is happy to join the choir.

But the subterfuge is discovered and they are disqualified from the competition. But, to the audience’s delight, Nerys and Dafydd are now involved in a passionate romance, and they take the choir to victory at the National Eisteddfod.

The next goal is to compete at the miners’ Eisteddfod in Porthcawl, where famous United States bass baritone and communist Paul Robeson is due to speak and sing in a transatlantic link-up after the US government revoked his passport. This is based on the famous history and solidarity between Robeson and the south Wales miners, after his many visits to the coalfield areas.

The sound of Robeson speaking and singing in that beautiful rich voice is a very emotional moment.

The WNO has had a few troubled years with funding cuts, redundancies and a shortened programme but, on the brink of the company’s 80th anniversary, they have resurrected a real crowd-pleaser.

This beautiful production was commissioned by the WNO from composer David Hackbridge Johnson and librettist Emma Jenkins.

The evening is a delight of singing, dancing, comedy and a chance to wallow in nostalgia for an era of social and political solidarity.

On tour until May 22. Box office: (029) 2063-5000, wno.org.uk.