Lisa Donmall: “Every show I´ve been in was very touching”

THE OPERA SHOW opened at Barcelona´s Teatre Victòria on March, 17. This show presents some of the most beautiful opera pieces ever written exquisitely performed in a spectacular and exuberant 21st century showcase. Mitch Sebastian’s ravishing production is startling and fresh – a vivid modern-style presentation with dazzling choreography animating great works of classical music. The result is an enchanted world where thrilling music is brought to life in an alluring and electrifying evening that will delight opera enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

Lisa Donmall stars as a dancer in THE OPERA SHOW, and she’s also the dance captain of the Show. Donmall has an extensive career in musical theatre. She has starred in London in shows such as SWEET CHARITY, CHICAGO, THE PRODUCERS or MY FAIR LADY. Other theatre credits include CRAZY FOR YOU, CATS or THE RAT PACK.

Lisa Donmall talks with us about her experience on THE OPERA SHOW and about her artistic career.

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘THE OPERA SHOW’?
I would say THE OPERA SHOW is a fusion of all different elements of the arts coming together. The show is trying to appeal to a wider audience than just opera lovers by introducing the dancing, and musicians, and the lights, etc. And the whole spectacularity of it makes it more appealing to people who don´t watch opera generally, because this is a more entertaining show. Also, each act being completely different, you always please everybody with something.

HOW HAVE THE AUDIENCES ALL AROUND THE WORLD REACTED TO THIS SHOW?
It has been fantastic! It always have been so, since creating it in England, and then when we´ve taken it to America and Scandinavia, I think in every single performance we´ve had standing ovations. So it´s always been so well received.

BEFORE STARRING IN `THE OPERA SHOW´, WERE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE OPERA GENRE?  DO YOU LIKE ANY PARTICULAR OPERA PIECE FROM THE SHOW?
I knew some of it, not all of them. Some of the songs on the show are well known, so of course I knew them, although not so thoroughly as I do now. And then there were some songs I never heard before. But for me, working with it so closely has widened my knowledge of it as well, which is has been really good.
I like “Ebben! Ne Andro Lontana”, which is from ‘La Wally’, which I do my solo, too. I think that´s a really beautiful piece of music I´m singing. And I hadn´t heard that one before. I also like “The Flower Duet” from ‘Lakmé’, cause it is a really pretty song. “Chanson Boheme” (from ‘Carmen’) is also a good one.

THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME YOU WORK NEXT TO MITCH SEBASTIAN. HOW IS IT WORKING WITH HIM?
It´s great! Definitely, it´s always a challenging experience. He´s got an amazing creative brain. I´ve worked quite closely to him because I´m assistant as well as work onstage. It has been a very incredibly creative process. Because when he created something he always wanted me in it, so I’m always kind of part of the whole creation. It is really good.

YOU´VE STARRED IN SEVERAL MUSICALS. IS VERY DIFFERENT THE WAY OF SINGING AND PERFORMING IN A MUSICAL SHOW THAN IN THIS SHOW?
It´s incredibly different. I mean, performing in a musical I think people underestimate how difficult and disciplinated it is and how talented those people are. We have to do everyhing: we sing and we dance at the same time. It´s quite odd doing it not singing because I´m nearly always singing in musicals. I think this requires a very different kind of mental and energy focus, I´d say.

Lisa Donmall in THE OPERA SHOW

YOU PERFORMED IN WEST END´S ‘CHICAGO’. HOW DO YOU REMEMBER THIS EXPERIENCE?
I loved it. CHICAGO is one of my favourite shows. I´ve been back to it for several times, and the roles I´ve played are amazing. I have a very fond spot in my heart for this show. It is such a well written show, it´s just a gem. Velma Kelly is a role that is completely unbeatable. So even I´ve been in great shows and performed in great musicals, CHICAGO is like one of my favourites.

LAST YEAR YOU PERFORMED YOUR ONE WOMAN SHOW IN LONDON. WHAT COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT THIS SHOW? ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP ON IT?
Yes, I have plans to do another show, but I´ve had to delay it because of THE OPERA SHOW. Last year I´ve kind of decided I wanted to do a cabaret show. I had ideas in my head. Then I spoke to a friend who helped me directed and choreographied it. And it turned to be a One Woman Show about my life and my career so far. In a way, like a journey. I had medley of Kander and Ebb to spoke about my CHICAGO experience, and then I had a Gershwin section talking about CRAZY  FOR YOU, and I sang songs from shows I´ve done, some I would like to do, and some comedy numbers linking it with stories from my own personal experiences whitin the business. It turned to be a one hour one act show, and it was a brilliant experience and massive learning. Producing it myself, and rehearsing it, and costuming and doing props and having dancers... A really brilliant experience, and it was very important to me having good people working with me, they gave me a really good support. I really want to do another one. But because that was so great and I was so pleased with it, it is difficult to know how to better it. So I´m thinking of going away of telling experiences of my life to completely doing more... I´ve really haven´t had the chance yet, but I´m planning to do it. In Autumn, probably.

YOU ALSO WERE IN THE LONDON PRODUCTION OF ‘THE PRODUCERS’. WHY DO YOU THINK THE SHOW DIDN´T WORK IN THE WEST END AS WELL AS IN BROADWAY?
I don´t know, cause it was running for two and a half years. I just did it on the first year. I think it is a brilliant piece of theatre, and one of the funniest things to grace the stage. I don´t know why it didn´t appeal to audiences. Maybe it was the timing, because the economical climate in the country then wasn´t very good. I also think in the West End there are only a few shows that run longer. Shows usually do a couple of years, now. But I think THE PRODUCERS is one of the best written and funniest shows.

THERE IS ANY OF THE SHOWS YOU´VE BEEN IT THAT HAS A SPECIAL MEANING TO YOU?
It´s difficult to say. Every show I´ve been in was very touching. I like all the shows I´ve done. I´m incredibly lucky, cause some people just do it, but they really don´t enjoy what they´re doing. I think each one has its own purpose and its own journey for me. CHICAGO, again, was a huge thing, cause when I did it back in 1999, I was covering Roxie, and then two years later I got Velma. So in a way that was my shift into playing roles instead covering them. So it has a very special significance for me. I think the others always had something: the massive creating process being at the National Theatre with MY FAIR LADY, being in the PRODUCERS with the original company, something coming from Broadway and playing Ula... Doing CATS, one of my favourites, it was one of the most challenging shows ever, and to know that I´ve done it and accomplished it kind of makes me feel good.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO FOCUS YOUR CAREER ON MUSICAL THEATRE?
I think I knew always I wanted to dance, from a very very early age. When I was eleven we went to see SINGIN´ IN THE RAIN at the Palladium, in London. And from that it was very clear in my head. That was all I wanted to do. I feel really lucky that I just knew and that I was so focused and determined, cause a lot of my friends just had no idea what they wanted to do, and I thought “oh, my God, I´ve known it for years!”.

Lisa Donmall in her ONE WOMAN SHOW