Branden & James—Full of Love -

By Marcia Blondin***They married on the beach here in Vallarta eight years ago, and the city has captured their combined hearts, becoming one of their favorite places in the world to perform. And so, every season this crossover duo, operatic tenor Branden James and Australian cellist James Clark, bring us a new show, with this year devoted to knights of the realm, and a Dame or two. To Sirs with Love is clever and highly structured, with finely-edited video clips of actual knightings and comments, often about the process and the words exchanged with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II (rest in peace, Madam). The clips of Sirs Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John were hilarious.

Branden’s life changed forever by becoming a contestant, then a finalist, on “America’s Got Talent” around 2013. A couple of years later, in Los Angeles, he met an Australian cellist, a music teacher from Adelaide, who had come to California to work on his Master’s Degree in music. An invitation from Branden for James to serve as his music director for an upcoming show led to romance, marriage, and very quickly, tours around the world as Branden & James.

The sold-out audience at Coco Cabaret was mesmerized by Branden’s classically-trained voice, James’s artful cello, which he sometimes plays standing up, and Mark Hartman’s virtuosic piano accompaniment. A couple of years ago, at The Palm Cabaret, James did a mash-up of Australia’s most popular rock and roll export, AC/DC, on the cello! When he announced what he was going to play, I was thinking, “No way!” But, yes, way. Wow. I hope he will one day reprise that expressive, cello-exploding tribute to his homeland’s band.

A surprise opening number written by Sir Brian May, lead guitarist for Queen (I had no idea he had been recently knighted by King Charles III), ”The Show Must Go On,” about Queen’s frontman Freddie Mercury’s battle with HIV/AIDS, was touchingly sung by Branden. The tone was set, interspersed with lots of humorous stories, some of them first-hand accounts of witnessing diva temper tantrums onstage.

It is a joy and a relief to watch three consummate professionals whose training shines through in every performance, whether it be piano, voice, cello or a combo. There are no dancers, no costuming, no distractions—just three gifted performers onstage offering us what they do for a living. Make no mistake, I LOVE big productions, I love dancers, but peeling away those extraneous props and having talent of the highest caliber in the world, right there within touching distance, is something Vallarta and the world needs more of these days. Listen to the magic in the lyrics and haunting notes of a cello. The softness of Mark Hartman’s fingers on the piano, the sincerity in Branden’s voice ringing out loud and clear, and James’ heart and soul’s voice laid bare from bow and strings. It is an extraordinary thing, this musicianship.