|
The Top Cs & Tiaras projectThe Top Cs & Tiaras were recorded at the Warwick Arts Trust, Pimlico, the series recorded entirely on the estate of Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire. The shows were produced and transmitted between 1982 and 1985.
The details here share insight into how it was devised and why we believed the timing was ripe to craft this project and contemporise an otherwise traditional genre of performance music. |
At the time of transmission, it was a very requested, popular show. No similar shows has not made on any TV channel since.
|
Creating the conceptThe original treatment from the Bright Thoughts Company to Channel 4 offered innovations and a winning formula which could not be achieved logistically by staff producers at an ITV or BBC studio and therefore could only be produced by an independent production company. Channel 4 wanted us to create a popular music show that would help build ratings and therefore have the potential to run into more series as well as have a potential secondary market. From the original treatment:
|
- to be recorded entirely on location, to liberate the recordings away from a proscenium arch - a theatre or concert performance - a studio recording, or other formal setting;
- all singing to be recorded live in every location;
- three types of music accompaniment in each show, one third with an eight-piece orchestra, one third with large orchestra, one third with piano only;
- by design, to be an Ensemble of the four voices (soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone) as the foundation, with the addition of a leading artist and a guest celebrity performer;
- to inform, educate as well as entertain - an essential ingredient was to overlay every song title with dates of composition, composer, title of operetta, and the spoken links were additional brief information about the piece or its context.
NOTE: All programmes were recorded simultaneously using multitrack sound studio equipment and digital tape as it was understood there would likely be a need to re-edit the sound for CD's, video release and future merchandising.
Neil Anthony
|
Building on successIn devising the concept for a different kind of music programme, we were looking for a genre that was under represented elsewhere on TV and yet would be popular entertainment with familiar titles and memorable tunes.
From the outset it was aimed at middle-of-the-road viewing audiences and a family show and with the emerging video markets it was devised for secondary sales. We believed people would buy videos as 'keep-sakes' and would make an ideal present for anyone who appreciated this type of popular, light classical music. |
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 at some famous London sites, whilst based at the Warwick Arts Trust in Pimlico and also at Olympic Sound Studios. It got a great viewer response and good ratings and so we were commissioned to produce a second special also on location around the London area, still using the Warwick Arts Trust but also this time Odyssey Sound Studios.
We were never in any doubt that Peter Morrison (baritone) and Marilyn Hill Smith (soprano) would be an important part of the Ensemble, our team of vocal artists (the four voices, soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone). 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 star who at that time was well known in Germany, France, other European countries and in America. Not well known in the UK, Top C's was an appropriate vehicle to introduce Julia to new audiences.
With the success of Top C's I & II we were commissioned to do the Series, but the tough problem was where to record? We needed a great location which was not a conventional performance space. 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, apparently ah-hoc style was one of the key selling-points which audiences seemed to like and became part of the winning formula 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. It's perhaps important to note that until this time, when operetta was performed it was almost always performed within a proscenium arch in a theatre or a concert venue, and on the rare occasions of TV recording, it would be in studio. Our show liberated all that and immediately contemporised a genre of music usually associated with times 50 or 100 years ago.
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, often electric, 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.
From the outset, this operetta series was devised to have a secondary exploitation as a video-collection, a CD collection, and was designed to run into several series. The repertoire was strong enough to sustain this without any dilution. We had a strong ensemble, production team, and an established routine to deliver this winning formula on an ongoing basis. We believe however, for political reasons Channel 4 decided against continuing with this ratings hit.
All shows were very tightly edited as we wanted to pack each show with as many numbers as we possible could. 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 made the first special on a modest budget recorded on location at some famous London sites, whilst based at the Warwick Arts Trust in Pimlico and also at Olympic Sound Studios. It got a great viewer response and good ratings and so we were commissioned to produce a second special also on location around the London area, still using the Warwick Arts Trust but also this time Odyssey Sound Studios.
We were never in any doubt that Peter Morrison (baritone) and Marilyn Hill Smith (soprano) would be an important part of the Ensemble, our team of vocal artists (the four voices, soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone). 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 star who at that time was well known in Germany, France, other European countries and in America. Not well known in the UK, Top C's was an appropriate vehicle to introduce Julia to new audiences.
With the success of Top C's I & II we were commissioned to do the Series, but the tough problem was where to record? We needed a great location which was not a conventional performance space. 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, apparently ah-hoc style was one of the key selling-points which audiences seemed to like and became part of the winning formula 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. It's perhaps important to note that until this time, when operetta was performed it was almost always performed within a proscenium arch in a theatre or a concert venue, and on the rare occasions of TV recording, it would be in studio. Our show liberated all that and immediately contemporised a genre of music usually associated with times 50 or 100 years ago.
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, often electric, 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.
From the outset, this operetta series was devised to have a secondary exploitation as a video-collection, a CD collection, and was designed to run into several series. The repertoire was strong enough to sustain this without any dilution. We had a strong ensemble, production team, and an established routine to deliver this winning formula on an ongoing basis. We believe however, for political reasons Channel 4 decided against continuing with this ratings hit.
All shows were very tightly edited as we wanted to pack each show with as many numbers as we possible could. 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
Presenting | Bright Thoughts Today | Anthony/Izzard Partnership | Producer's Choice | Projects & Formats | Chorus Girl | About the Shows | The Catalogue | The Monologues | Performance Listings | Top C's & Tiaras | More on Top C's | Top C's Feedback | Max Miller | Art Ensemble of Chicago | Ephemera | Scrapbook | Further Research | Independent TV Production | Company Details | Enquiries
|
|
|
|