Issue 2014-032

In February 2013, Clive Nolan premiered his ambitiously mounted Alchemy musical at the now very familiar Wyspiański Theatre in Katowice, Poland. The 2-hour production plus a raft of extras has been captured for posterity on this lavish 5-disc box set which received its official release in September 2013 coinciding with the debut UK staging at the Playhouse Theatre, Cheltenham. In between these two events the stunning studio recording of Alchemy was released which comfortably topped my favourite albums of 2013.

Nolan is no stranger to the Wyspiański stage (and cameras) having been filmed there in various line-ups including Caamora, Pendragon, Arena and Shadowland. With superb facilities, it's become synonymous as the venue of choice for recording prog videos and it's not difficult to see why with Nolan and company treated to a splendid staging of this follow-up to the equally ambitious She project in 2008.

Almost everyone from the studio album are present and correct including 11 principle singers, 6 musicians (often sounding like 60) and a 21-voice choir. Only ex. IQ vocalist Paul Menel and Uruguayan singer Noel Calcaterra are absent and with Nolan preoccupied front of stage as the pivotal character Professor Samuel King, Claudio Momberg who played piano on the studio album takes care of keyboard duties. Completing the line-up of musicians are Mark Westwood (guitars), Scott Higham (drums), Kylan Amos (bass), Penny Gee (violin) and Ian Scott (horn). With the rest of the cast and crew comfortably filling the Wyspiański stage, the choir have been filmed separately and their parts integrated into the rest of the footage.

For those unfamiliar with Alchemy, the music has a prog meets theatre grandeur that brings to mind stage musicals like Les Misérables and The Phantom Of The Opera as well as Nolan's other musical diversion Arena laced with the gothic film scores of Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer. It not all bombast however, with songs like Amelia, Sanctuary and the show stopping The Girl I Was it boasts more than its fair share of romantic ballads.

Whilst on album some of the finer points of Nolan's story can easily pass the listener by, seen live it makes a lot more sense. Wisely acting and spoken dialogue are kept to a minimum allowing the power of the songs and the singing to convey the plotline which moves along at a lively pace. With the band all dressed in black taking up the rear, the singers perform centre stage, often four or five in unison, with their costumes and the minimal but effective back projections being the only concession to the 19th-Century period setting. As with all Wyspiański filmed shows the lighting is impressive and with the cameras sometimes sweeping across the front of the stage one wonders how the appreciative audience maintained an unrestricted view. Sound comes courtesy of the usual stereo and 5.1 surround options.

In a cast that is uniformly excellent, Agnieszka Świta as the tragic heroine Amelia Darvas and ex. Twelfth Night frontman Andy Sears as the villainous Lord Henry Jagman are undoubtedly the stars of the show. They go head to head from the very start in Deception whilst individually the macabre waltz Highgate features Agnieszka at her most provocative whilst Sears' scene stealing performance during the sinister The End Justifies The Means is worthy of an Olivier Award. Sears' character also has his own leitmotif in the form of a dramatic, descending riff that punctuates the instrumental sections (notably The Labyrinth that opens act 2).

Of the rest, David Clifford gives a commanding but sensitive performance as the romantic male lead William Gardelle whilst Victoria Bolley who provides strong support throughout in the role of Eva really comes into her own in the second act with her mesmerising solo Share This Dream. Superb cameo performances come from Soheila Clifford in the role Jessamine (replacing Noel Calcaterra) singing the infectious Desperate Days, the always excellent Tracy Hitchings during The Unwelcome Guest and Arena singer Paul Manzi memorable as bad guy Milosh in the strident Ambush and the crowd pleasing Tide Of Wealth. Damian Wilson for his part is almost unrecognisable (visually and vocally) maintaining an imposing presence (reminiscent of Tintin's Captain Haddock but without the humour) in Burial At Sea.

In addition to the full 2-hour show, DVD 1 includes generous extras in the shape of The Making Of Alchemy and several illuminating interviews with the key participants. Over on DVD 2 there is another hours' worth of bonus material that delves into the development of the songs with contributions from the majority of the cast.

If however like me your time is limited when it comes to sitting in front of a DVD player, the three CD's that come with this package are invaluable. Taken from the same Wyspiański recording, the show is spread across two discs which can be easily enjoyed in their own right. In fact without the visual distractions, the excellent performances (instrumentally and vocally) and the exceptional audio quality (albeit in stereo only) become even more apparent. The bonus CD is ironically perhaps my favourite of the whole collection featuring high quality demos, alternate recordings and some superb songs that probably due to time constraints never made the final recording.

There's really little I can say to fault Alchemy. The show is impressively staged, performed (the counterpoint singing is quite breath-taking at times), played, recorded and produced. Throw in some great tunes and this sumptuous package and you have as they say in stage and theatre circles, a triumph!