|
Top C's on YouTube - from The Series recorded at Wrotham ParkA small selection of songs from VHS recordings of the Series which people have shared on YouTube. At the time of transmission, it was a very requested, popular show. No similar shows has not made on any channel since.
|
One Night of LoveOpening song
and introduction to the show Performed by Julia Migenes |
|
Julia sings at Byng's -
It's a remarkable coincidence that both homes of the 18th century Admiral Byng are being featured on our TV screens at the same time. One is in St James's Square and is better know as the Libyan Embassy ... the other is his country mansion, Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire,.
Channel 4's new series of Top C's and Tiaras, beginning tomorrow, was made in and around the imposing pile outside South Mimms where Byng's descendants still live.
Once again, the cast is led by American star Julia Migenes Johnson, 37, a small (5ft2in) buy sumptuously curved soprano. 'My father was Greek, my mother Puerto Rican,' she says. 'Migenes is her name. I was born in Manhattan. We were on welfare and my parents didn't even marry until I was 10.'
She now lives with her third husband Jervis, her manager, and their daughter Messica, three and 10 year-old Martina, her daughter by a Ukranian ballet dancer with whom she briefly fell in love.
Paul Donovan, TV Mail, Daily Mail, 28 April 1984
Tramp Tramp Trampfrom
Naughty Marietta Performed by Peter Morrison and conducted by Harry Rabinowitz |
|
Love Gentle and Tenderfrom
Giuditta Performed by Julia Migenes and conducted by Harry Rabinowitz |
|
Land of Smiles duet followed by 'piano routining' from Salad DaysThe 'piano routining' was a weekly feature, this week with Benjamin Luxon, Marilyn Hill Smith, Peter Morrison, Hugh Hetherington, Jean Bailey, and Burt Rhodes (piano) Land of Smiles duet performed by Marilyn Hill Smith and Hugh Hetherington |
|
Julia sings Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
|
Mein Herr Marquis
|
Czardas conducted by Harry Rabinowitz
|
Beautiful Italy followed by a medley of Dance in OperettaThe Dance medley sung and danced by the cast ensemble Beautiful Italy from Paganini |
|
Balkan Lovelyric translation by
Peter Knapp Performed by Marilyn Hill Smith and conducted by Harry Rabinowitz |
|
Paradise For Twofrom
The Maid of the Mountains Duet performed by Benjamin Luxon CBE and Julia Migenes |
|
Im Chambre séparéefrom
The Operaball Performed by Julia Migenes and Burt Rhodes (piano) |
|
|
About the showIn devising the concept for a different kind of music programme, we were looking for a genre of music that was under represented elsewhere on TV and yet would be popular entertainment.
From the outset it was aimed at middle-of-the-road viewing audiences and a family show. We thought when Channel 4 first came on-air there was almost an over-supply of more radical music for younger audiences and we saw the niche, an audience that was not being catered for. |
We made the first special on a modest budget recorded on location in and around London and based at large house in Pimlico. It seemed to go down well and get good ratings and so we were commissioned to produce a second special also on location around the London area.
We were never in any doubt that Peter Morrison (baritone) and Marilyn Hill Smith (soprano) would be an important part of the core team of our vocal artists and they were with us throughout. Marilyn well known as “Britain’s Queen of Operetta' and Peter known especially throughout Scotland, a much-loved and popular singer. We were then joined by a different tenor and mezzo soprano for each show. Julia Migenes was a rising opera star who at that time was not well known in the UK and so this seemed like an appropriate vehicle.
With the success of Top C's & Tiaras I & II we were commissioned to do the Series, but the tough problem was where? Some of the learning points of the first two shows were logistical, financial, and practical. We would not be able to continue to do as many numbers to fill the one hour at such a variety of different locations and set-ups with such a quick turn-around and for that price. It would also be a logistical nightmare moving orchestras around different places. (All sound was recorded live.)
But, this slightly wild ah-hoc style was one of the key selling-points which audiences seemed to like and was important in the formula of Top C's, that artists would be popping up all over the place, often apparently randomly to sing another song about something else, or begin a different theme.
This type of format could not be done by the BBC nor the ITV network for various reasons. Simply, a show that requires a 30+ orchestra would have to be recorded in studio or theatre or concert hall - a more controlled environment - but with the new emerging lightweight equipment we were able to liberate from studio and work entirely with OB units.
The other key point in making the Series is that the turn-around time would have to tighten if we were going to record one show per week in order to bring it in on-budget. The solution was found at Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire which became our home for the duration of the shoot. We would record every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, three days to get each hour show 'in-the-can'. (By comparison, in a conventional TV studio it would not be feasible to book a studio for three days every week to deliver a show on this scale on this budget.)
The Byng family (owners of Wrotham Park) were wonderfully accommodating and hospitable and became our friends for the duration. We all knew we were working to a near-impossible schedule each week, but the fun and excitement was intense so everybody knuckled-down, got on with it and did their bit with increasing momentum each weekend ending with the main orchestral recordings on Sunday evenings.
Each show used up to around 50 song titles within the hour programme, either within a medley, part of a different arrangement, or as the full song. In itself, this was quite an achievement to get this amount of material 'cleared', get the musical arrangements done, routined, then rehearsed, then recorded. And, this happened every week. Barcud production facilities were also astonishing, not only the camera crew and the Outside Broadcast units, but also in post-production back at base in Caernarfon, Wales.
All shows were very tightly edited as we wanted to pack each show with as many numbers as we possible could. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake for those who recorded our shows on VHS will have a hard time separating a particular song because of things such as 'split-edits' and 'overlays' which is why everything on YouTube has either a messy ending or beginning, or are clipped.
Of course, that could be overcome if we were to digitise these recordings and remaster, and perhaps make them available again on either DVD or to stream.
We were never in any doubt that Peter Morrison (baritone) and Marilyn Hill Smith (soprano) would be an important part of the core team of our vocal artists and they were with us throughout. Marilyn well known as “Britain’s Queen of Operetta' and Peter known especially throughout Scotland, a much-loved and popular singer. We were then joined by a different tenor and mezzo soprano for each show. Julia Migenes was a rising opera star who at that time was not well known in the UK and so this seemed like an appropriate vehicle.
With the success of Top C's & Tiaras I & II we were commissioned to do the Series, but the tough problem was where? Some of the learning points of the first two shows were logistical, financial, and practical. We would not be able to continue to do as many numbers to fill the one hour at such a variety of different locations and set-ups with such a quick turn-around and for that price. It would also be a logistical nightmare moving orchestras around different places. (All sound was recorded live.)
But, this slightly wild ah-hoc style was one of the key selling-points which audiences seemed to like and was important in the formula of Top C's, that artists would be popping up all over the place, often apparently randomly to sing another song about something else, or begin a different theme.
This type of format could not be done by the BBC nor the ITV network for various reasons. Simply, a show that requires a 30+ orchestra would have to be recorded in studio or theatre or concert hall - a more controlled environment - but with the new emerging lightweight equipment we were able to liberate from studio and work entirely with OB units.
The other key point in making the Series is that the turn-around time would have to tighten if we were going to record one show per week in order to bring it in on-budget. The solution was found at Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire which became our home for the duration of the shoot. We would record every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, three days to get each hour show 'in-the-can'. (By comparison, in a conventional TV studio it would not be feasible to book a studio for three days every week to deliver a show on this scale on this budget.)
The Byng family (owners of Wrotham Park) were wonderfully accommodating and hospitable and became our friends for the duration. We all knew we were working to a near-impossible schedule each week, but the fun and excitement was intense so everybody knuckled-down, got on with it and did their bit with increasing momentum each weekend ending with the main orchestral recordings on Sunday evenings.
Each show used up to around 50 song titles within the hour programme, either within a medley, part of a different arrangement, or as the full song. In itself, this was quite an achievement to get this amount of material 'cleared', get the musical arrangements done, routined, then rehearsed, then recorded. And, this happened every week. Barcud production facilities were also astonishing, not only the camera crew and the Outside Broadcast units, but also in post-production back at base in Caernarfon, Wales.
All shows were very tightly edited as we wanted to pack each show with as many numbers as we possible could. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake for those who recorded our shows on VHS will have a hard time separating a particular song because of things such as 'split-edits' and 'overlays' which is why everything on YouTube has either a messy ending or beginning, or are clipped.
Of course, that could be overcome if we were to digitise these recordings and remaster, and perhaps make them available again on either DVD or to stream.
Neil Anthony, Producer
Notes:
As these YouTube clips have been done by others from their VHS tapes - as producer of this series - I cannot vouch for their choice nor their editing. Evidently, they have not been edited on professional equipment.
|
However, if there is a demand to republish this series, we are prepared to consider the logistics of digitally remastering the whole series and making the set of 6 x one hour shows available on DVD and possibly to stream.
If you may be interested and/or feel you would be prepared to support such an initiative, we would be pleased to hear from you to gauge some sense of popularity both to the Series and also this genre of music and performance in 2020. So, do please let us know >> |
