A few seconds ago, the Gran Teatro La Estación in Madrid rocked with laughter. Packed to capacity with locals and tourists looking for a good time, the 900-seater venue was playing host to A Comedy Of Operas, a show that stays true to both its nouns. But all of a sudden there is a quiet hush. Not from the stage (that’s still ablaze with volume courtesy of one of the incredible operatic voices populating this show) but from the audience. Laughter has been replaced with tears and you can feel the crowd’s collective heart swell. Such is the power of opera, or more specifically, a well-chosen, well-placed aria designed to grab you by the feels.

It’s five years since directors Joe O’Curneen and David Ottone first unleashed this hugely popular show on the world. Since then, it’s played to opera buffs and aria virgins alike, both of whom have been unanimous in their praise. Based around the central conceit of an operatic troupe down on its heels but still aiming to please, the show fuses music, song and physical comedy. Three love stories emerge as the five performers work their way through one well-loved song after another.

Designed to please all-comers, its humour is quick and accessible without ever diminishing the beauty and power of those arias. What is perhaps most unexpected, however, is just how many of them sound familiar. ‘We obviously had an extensive repertoire to choose from,’ explains O’Curneen. ‘So it was like going to a tree of operas and picking the best fruit. They had to be the ones that are most well-known for a general audience, so we explored all of the famous operas and started to select those that would fit our story. It was like a puzzle; we started with about 40 or 50 arias and reduced that down to 20.’

Whether it’s been used in an advert, a film, a television programme (or, of course, the opera itself), all of the songs here have infiltrated our psyche. ‘Nessun dorma’ from Puccini’s Turandot, the ‘Flower Duet’ from Delibes’ Lakmé, and other equally famous arias from Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Offenbach’s The Tales Of Hoffmann, and Verdi’s Rigoletto and La Traviata all feature. During one particularly amusing scene, the macho baritone holds an ‘opera masterclass’, asking the audience to finish each phrase he starts: and everyone does. ‘When you know a tune, the scene is more effective and you engage with it emotionally,’ says O’Curneen. ‘And when you don’t know the tune, it doesn’t transmit as well. And our experience with AComedy Of Operas is that the moment the performers start singing, people instantly recognise the tune.’

This is especially true during a scene where the fun-loving counter-tenor keeps deviating into the world of pop music, surprising us all with similarities between those two genres. Meanwhile, the tenor is trying to recapture his former glory, the soprano is trying to encourage him to give up the booze, and the mezzo-soprano is convinced the right man is out there somewhere (in the audience). Each comes to the show with an impeccable operatic pedigree; but that’s not all the directors were looking for, because none of the between-aria action is portrayed through words. 

‘It took a while to find the right cast,’ says O’Curneen. ‘First of all, the voice quality was very important; it had to be superb. And then we were looking for an ability to express themselves through gestures and physicality. But it’s not just about the laughs, we wanted to create emotional moments too, because how can you laugh with ‘Nessun dorma’ in your ears? You can’t. So we make sure that we respect the music. When it’s Puccini’s moment, it’s Puccini’s moment; and when it’s our moment, it’s our moment. That balance is important. So one minute you’ll be laughing and enjoying yourself, and then you might find yourself shedding a tear. And I think people really love that combination.’

A Comedy Of Operas, Pleasance At EICC, 2–27 August, times vary.