The boy who got booed at Covent Garden: an update
Daily Comfort Zone… has appeared in couple of seasonal tracks for oldies radio.
Malakai M. Bayoh holds his own against a former boy treble who is now four times his age.
Malakai is one of the year’s natural winners.
Bravo, piccolino!
Well, nobody saw that coming…
One “person” (creep) booed him. It was at Covent Garden. That’s enough for Lebrecht to describe him as “booed at Covent Garden.”
Err… So it’s an accurate description then, isn’t it?
Factually “accurate” does not rule out “misleading” when the writer knows full well, or hopes, that many readers will assume something more widespread.
Yes, it is one boo far too many in our country that doesn’t tolerate booing. It is disrespectful, and in this case even more abusive by being thrown at a black child. Says more about about the booer and indeed yourself, not Norman Lebrecht. We are British, not Italians and other countries, who seem to tolerate booing and revel in it. We simply don’t and not towards children. It was not done in fun as you get at a pantomime towards the wicked witch.
So booing a white child would have been more acceptable?
“Our country that does not tolerate booing” – have you informed the venerable members of the House of Commons about this? Please stop comparing the British favorably to other nations. That said, booing this child was an unforgivable thing to do.
Sweet little child, one of the countless victims of Regietheater. For the audience is assumed to consist entirely of morons unable to understand the idea of a child searching for his father unless shown the caricature of a schoolboy carrying a poster. Makes the director feel brighter — that and the paycheck.
This had nothing to do with Regietheater.
Excuse me, I just feel like continuing. The whole idea of Regietheater is: Yes, yes, I know that you are all hopelessly stupid and unable to understand anything, and the author did not understand it either, and we all know how silly singers are, and the whole singing and music and stuff, but don’t panic — YOU’VE GOT ME! And with me, everything is clear. You wonder why the fat lady sings? They gave her a sedative. Didn’t you see the nurse with the syringe? Why is Elvira so mad with Don Giovanni? It’s all family relations that Da Ponte didn’t know about, but I have restored them for you — you will be amazed. And in the end they all take a nice crap, doors open for your enjoyment and enlightenment.
Yes, that’s what it is. And when we complain about Regietheater, we need a definition — otherwise we cannot tell it from Good Theatre, which can be traditional like Cosi Fan Tutte at Glyndebourne (Hytner) or modern like Frau ohne Schatten at Munich (Warlikowski), or anything in-between. Well, I have offered a definition.
Lesson on how to make a career out of being booed.
Every parent will now plant a booer in the audience in order to fast track the career of his child.
They probably won’t.
Lovely singer, unpretentios chorister from an unpretentious London Catholic school, and a beautiful top A in O Holy Night! Well done, Malakai – and also Classic fm and Aled Jones for supporting him.
Sounds fabulous!
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right!”
By coincidence, I just had out the 1985 recording of Handel’s ATHALIA with Joan Sutherland and….Aled Jones. The British tradition of remarkable boy trebles continues.