Sarah Brightman:

• Cert:
• Cat.no: 4925269
• Running time: 89 minutes
• Year: 2001
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 0, PAL
• Chapters: 26 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English
• Fullscreen: 4:3
• 16:9-Enhanced: No
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £12.99
• Extras: Song index, Music Video, Interview, “Behind The Curtains” Documentary Footage, Backstage Tour, Animated Tour Map, Biography, Lyrics

While it didn’t exactly set the charts alight in Britian, Sarah Brightman’s most recent album La Luna sold in excess of 1 Million copies Stateside and was accompained by a hugely successful American and European jaunt that lasted nearly a full year.

This DVD serves as not only a recorded visual document of the La Luna live experience, but – courtesy of 1½ hours of behind-the-scenes footage – also an often illuminating (oops) peek into the less-than-glamourous world of touring, where the relentless routine does its best to drive even the most upbeat of people to the edge of madness.

The show itself is a wonderfully slick affair, more like an opera production than a rock concert, bathed in atmospheric blue light and precisely arranged and choreographed. The venue, Fort Lauderdale in Florida, is a cavernous arena that allows for gigantic backdrops and some acrobatic mid-air twirling from the chanteuse (harness discreetly incorporated into her outfit) at occasional intervals in the set.

26 numbers (including three fairly brief musical interludes that seamlessly enable the costume changes) mean the choice of material can be a deft mixture of crowd-pleasers and more ambient moments from La Luna. Much like its audio counterpart, the intelligent sequencing works magnificently. Purists will undoubtedly prefer the middle section, wherein she swoons effortlessly between classically-oriented works from both the recent and distant past (Figlio Perduto, Pie Jesu, Nessun Dorma), while those less enamoured with Brightman’s operatic warbling can enjoy the opening suite of more conteporary pop/rock songs (Winter In July, Scarborough Fair, Who Wants To Live Forever) and similarly the likes of Deliver Me, He Doesn’t See Me and A Whiter Shade Of Pale which are as pleasingly luxuriant as the surroundings.

As the show reaches its climax, there is an obligatory, but effective, run through of well-known excerpts from Phantom Of The Opera (including Music Of The Night and the title song), a duet featuring a young male vocalist who looks unnervingly like TV gardener Dan Pearson, and the appropriate finale of Time To Say Goodbye (her best-known, and most successful record).

During these moments, the intimacy of the La Luna concept tends to take second place to the requirements of a Sarah Brightman live concert and acknowledgement of her muscial heritage, but to her credit she has assembled a set-list which never strays too far from that central, moon-related conceit… even if only in tone and feel.

Never the most fashionable of performers, especially in the UK where the Lloyd-Webber/stage musical associations shot any potential credibility to pieces (not to mention her oft-ridiculed vocal style), the most arresting thing about La Luna : Live In Concert is how fantastic Sarah Brightman looks in an array of sexy, skimpy and ultra-feminine costumes.

At 40 years of age, she has lost none of her wide-eyed beauty, and although her stage mannerisms are little more than the wavy-armed swishing around beloved of late-1970s Kate Bush, there is an undeniable allure to her onstage presence.

Yet all this is but half the story. The myriad of extra features included on the disc last marginally longer than the main concert, and complement it perfectly. “Behind The Curtains” is basically an exhaustive video diary, split into several sections: recording the album (wherein it transpires that a stunning version of the David Sylvian song Forbidden Colours was dropped late on), early tour rehearsals, backstage footage, and after-show parties – all accompanied by a commentary from Brightman which tends to sound like someone discussing their holiday photos at times, but does offer some entertaining insight, anecdotes and candour.

As her mercifully brief attempts at chatting to the audience between songs during the show proves, she isn’t the greatest raconteur (her endearingly jolly-hockeysticks delivery likely to induce mirth more than anything else) but there is a playful and self-depricating side to her which reveals itself here.

The Interview is just a few minutes of less off-the-cuff soundbites interspersed with snippets from the show, while a music video for US single A Whiter Shade Of Pale is also included, although its sound quality is oddly lacking dynamism nd stands in stark contrast to the concert’s superb 5.1 Digital Dolby Surround mix.

A lot of thought has clearly gone into the DVD production design, with the animated tour map showing some neat CGI tricks. All menu screens are static, but stylish nonetheless and very simple to navigate. Just a shame the picture is only fullscreen, although the show itself still looks pretty good (the documentary sequences are mostly of home-video quality).

Many DVD titles of this kind are disappointingly amateurish and woefully overpriced, but La Luna : Live In Concert is a shining example of how it can (and should) be done, while the RRP of only £12.99 makes it a ridiculously good-value package. In the words of Ms, Brightman, summing up the experience of meeting fans while on tour, “it’s just so very, very nice…”. Indeed it is.

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