Passion
"Finest new music show of the year!" (UK Concert Review)
Passion is simply a joy. Featuring some of the best music ever written in the hands of two brilliant performers, this is a show at the peak of its genre and the finest example of its kind.
From the dramatic opening, "a breathtaking performance" of Music of the Night from Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, John Fletcher holds the audience in the palm of his hand. Accompanied by Glyndebourne and jazz pianist Stephen Higgins, the show swings effortlessly from the poignancy of Sondheim's Send In The Clowns to the bravado of Mozart's Largo al Factotum, from Rodgers and Hammerstein showstoppers to an amazing medley of traditional songs from Fletcher's native South Africa.
Both performers bring every nuance out of each diverse element, able to handle every extreme of passion; the women's medley alone can take the audience from laughter to tears. The irreverent translation of Bizet's Toreador Song blends fluent musicianship with consummate comedy; Nat King Cole's When I Fall In Love is a lesson in creating intimacy with the audience.
Perfectly performed, wonderfully staged and possessing a singular charm, Passion brings every audience to its feet, and has been invited to return to all the venues it has played to date. There is nothing like it on the British stage today. The show is currently touring to sell-out audiences in South Africa, where it is reaping media coverage and acclaim in equal measures.
Reviews:
"Fletcher presents formidable theatre. The extraordinary visual impact of the opening number from Phantom of the Opera (together with mask, smoke and dramatic lighting) made one realize immediately that this was not going to be just another concert. As the exceptionally enjoyable evening unfolded, Fletcher amazed the audience again and again, both with his choice of music and his penetrating (but always absolutely his own) interpretation of it, and with his easy rapport with the audience... How can one possibly forget the hilarious Toreador Song with its instant mistranslation, or the macabre tongue-in-cheek Tom Lehrer parody of a Victorian love ballad? Fletcher sang a selection of Neapolitan songs with absolute conviction - whoever said a baritone can't get away with all the trills in O Sole Mio! And he astounded us all with his mastery of the Gilbert and Sullivan patter style by not missing a single word in the Nightmare Song from Iolanthe, which he took at a cracking pace. Fletcher's sheer hard work was rewarded by an immediate standing ovation and he responded in turn by giving us two superb encores. He has promised to come back to the opera house, make a note of it now. (Braam Muller, Die Volksblad - translated from Afrikaans)
"The feeling of the audience was best summed up by the lady in front of me who said, "This is the best show we have had here in forty years! The audience stood twice: after the finale and after the encore. Fletcher earned it! The show is a tour de force!" (Die Burger - translated from Afrikaans)
"Fletcher brings a depth and intelligence to his performance that forces you to re-assess familiar pieces and realize just how well written they are. The dramatic lighting, original staging and sheer scale of the performance, made me forget there were only two people on stage." (The Citizen - Pretoria)
"John Fletcher certainly did strike magic; in a lovingly sung performance he brought out every nuance of the words, the resultant emotional charge and the musical expression. His Some Enchanted Evening was an interpretation of the highest rank." (The Johannesburg Star)
"Fletcher provided an evening of wit, intelligence, style, superb music and fine singing all laced with his extraordinary joie de vivre and humour." (Citizen, Pretoria)
"A triumphant evening" (Weston Mercury)
"The audience loved it... three encores later we were still shouting for more!" (Swindon Evening Advertiser)
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Biographies:
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 John Fletcher (performer)
John Fletcher was raised on a cattle farm in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He studied singing as an undergraduate in that country and then in London under Professor Lyndon van der Pump of the Royal College of Music whilst completing his PhD in Law at Cambridge. In 1998 he was the first singer to be awarded the Nelson Mandela Nedbank Arts and Culture Trust Award which he used to study further under coaches from La Scala Opera House.
His recent opera performances, mainly at the South African State Theatre, have included Escamillo in Carmen, Dr Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Danilo in The Merry Widow, Figaro in The Barber of Seville and the title roles in Verdi's Macbeth and Mozart's Don Giovanni. He also played Billy Bigelow in Carousel, Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, Curly in Oklahoma, Koko in The Mikado and was in the original cast of the single most successful Andrew Lloyd Webber show ever in South Africa, which played to packed houses for over two years!
Whilst doing all this, he also practised as a barrister in a busy civil law chambers at the Johannesburg Bar. John, his wife and young son then moved back to the United Kingdom where they live in rural Somerset surrounded by his apple trees, dogs, horses and innumerable sheep.
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Stephen Higgins (musical director)
Stephen Higgins studied at Oxford, the Guildhall and the National Opera Studio. He then joined the staff of English National Opera and has worked for all the major British opera companies. He has conducted and worked as a professional accompanist in the UK and around Europe. He also runs the Glyndebourne Opera education programme.
Outside of opera, Stephen is an accomplished jazz musician and has led his own jazz band, Itchy Feet, for the last ten years. He was also the musical advisor for the controversial film Hilary and Jackie.
He has travelled widely in India, recording and performing with both western and Indian musicians, and has done extensive work with black township singers in South Africa.
Stephen and John met in Italy last year when John sang in an opera which Stephen conducted.
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