An all-England affair

If the audience attending soprano Alison England’s one-woman show on Sunday night thought they would be in for a night of stuffy operatic arias they were gladly mistaken. The performance titled “Opera, Broadway and Beyond” was held at the La Cañada Presbyterian Church, as a benefit for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. England began her program with several arias from operas in various languages.

“It’s about at this point of the show when husbands, or partners, turn and say, ‘When is she going to start singing in English?’” England said.

The program played seamlessly from opera to musical theater to flat out comedy. England kept the audience of all ages entertained as her strong bold voice went from “Juliet’s Waltz” from “Romeo and Juliet” to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “When I Marry Mr. Snow” from “Carousel.”

England is an international performer on live stage, film and television. She has a master’s degree in music from UCLA, was in advanced studies at Juilliard Opera Center, The Juilliard School and holds a bachelor’s of fine art degree in music from the California Institute of the Arts. With that background one might not think there would be a comical performance of “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady” but there was.

The night was a joint effort between the La Cañada Presbyterian and St. George Episcopal churches.