Sarah Brightman "crazy" ahead of new album, tour
DETROIT (Billboard) - Sarah Brightman says life is "completely crazy at the moment," and with a new holiday album, a tour and her debut film role, who's going to doubt her?
The British singer kicks off a seven-week tour of Mexico, the United States and Canada on November 4 in Monterrey, Mexico.
The repertoire will include "lots of new songs" from her January release "Symphony" and the holiday album "A Winter Symphony," which also comes out November 4 -- as well as "all the songs that I'm known for, so people will be getting all the old things that they love and all the new as well."
More striking, however, is the technology Brightman will employ on the tour, which includes virtual and holographic stage elements depicting gardens, balloons, aquariums and other ethereal scenery.
"We're basically creating moving 3-D worlds on stage, with me amongst them," Brightman explains. "It's an experiment for us because it's not really been done on this level before. There's been huge amounts of preparation, and, to tell you the truth, I don't know how it's going to be. At the end of the day music is beautiful, and I know that's really what the audience comes to see. I'm bringing them something new and hoping they get the best out of their evening, really. That's my job."
Brightman is also looking forward to bringing "A Winter Symphony" to that audience. "I've always wanted to do a seasonal album for that time of year," she says, and the selection of songs -- including "Silent Night"; "Ave Maria"; John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)"; Neil Diamond's "I've Been This Way Before"; Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "I Believe in Father Christmas"; and ABBA's "Arrival" -- is meant to evoke the season itself rather than the Christmas holiday.
As for what she's doing making her film debut in "Saw" filmmaker Darren Lynn Bousman's gory science fiction thriller "Repo! The Genetic Opera" (opening November 7), Brightman -- who plays a singer named Blind Mag -- says, "That's the more left-field side of me, which is very enjoyable. It's just a very interesting piece. I had a really great moment when I was swimming in rather sickly looking gore at the end, but there's a reason for it. It's not just horror for the sake of horror. There is truly an emotional reason for why I do what I do at the end. I'm not gonna give the game away here, but it's a good moment."
Reuters/Billboard
