THE TAMING OF THE SHREW – REVIEW OF 2016 PRODUCTION AT SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE

James Karas

Director                   Caroline Byrne

Dramaturg               Moma Regan

Set Designer           Chiara Stephenson

Choreographer         Emma Martin

Physical Comedy    

Director                   Joe Dieffenbacher

Katherine                Kathy Rose O’Brien

Petruchio                Edward MacLiam    

Lucentio                  Aaron Heffernan                                                                  

Bianca                    Genevieve Hulme-Beaman                    

Tranio                     Imogen Doel

Hortensio Colm Gormley

Baptista                  Gary Lilburn

Grumio                    Helen Norton

Vincentio                 Louis Dempsey

Continues in repertory at Shakespeare’s Globe, South bank, London, England

until August 6, 2016. www.shakespearesglobe.com    

**** (out of five)

The Taming of the Shrew is not an easy play to produce and every director must find a way of dealing with its disgusting misogynist and the cruelty and humiliation meted on Katherine “the shrew” by the obnoxious Petruchio.

Director Caroline Byrne’s approach to the play is to set it in Ireland at the time of the Easter Uprising in 1916. Katherine would have been right at home in the misogynistic society of Ireland but the point is that the men who issued The Proclamation of Independence were well aware of the position of women and promised them equality. They delivered nothing.     

  

 Edward MacLiam as Petruchio and Aoife Duffin as Katherine.Photograph: Marc Brenner

Byrne delivers a boisterous, rambunctious and wild production that is highly physical and never hesitates to use the audience to provoke laughter. One character borrows a bottle of water from a yardling, for example, drinks a bit and pours the rest on another character.

There are Irish ballads to lighten the mood and some choreography including a wedding with a priest and confetti being tossed at the couple.

There is no shortage of cruelty towards Katherine when Petruchio tries to “tame” her and we can rationalize his conduct as being cruel to be kind or that she will eventually gain the upper hand after he is through with his “taming” and she pretends to be tamed. That is nonsense, of course, and perhaps simply wishful thinking to defend the indefensible.

Kathy Rose O’Brien is a spirited and at times a ferocious Katherine. We do believe that in the end she will take the upper hand with her husband or that love will prevail and the taming will have been unnecessary. We laugh so much and we worry or should worry that we may seem to be condoning Petruchio’s cruelty.

Edward MacLiam is a robust and blustering Petruchio whose Irish lilt makes it almost impossible to dislike him. Genevieve Hulme-Beaman’s Bianca is attractive without being insipid and I find that preferable to her appearing as a wimp. She has to use some trickery, after all, to get her man. The servants Tranio, Biondello, and Grumio are played by women for no apparent reason and surely there is no need for one. They do terrific work.

Byrne and her Dramaturg Moma Regan have done away with the scenes with Sly that open and close The Taming which is a play-within-a-play. Regan is responsible for the lyrics of the songs.

The issues that the play illustrates remain but we do get a terrifically funny production of a play and a superior night at the theatre.

NABUCCO – REVIEW OF ROYAL OPERA HOUSE PRODUCTION

James Karas

NABUCCO by Giuseppe Verdi (music) and

Temistocle Solera (libretto)

Conducted by Maurizio Benini

Directed by Daniele Abbado

Designed by Alison Chitty

Nabucco           DIMITRI PLATANIAS

Abigaille           LIUDMYLA MONASTYRSKA                

Zaccaria           JOHN RELYEA

Fenena             JAMIE BARTON

Ismaele            LEONARD CAPALBO

Anna                VLADA BOROVKO

High Priest       DAVID SHIPLEY

Abdallo             SAMUEL SAKKER

Continues until June 30, 2016 at the Royal Opera House

Covent Garden, London

**** (out of five)

Verdi’s first successful opera may not be many people’s favourite but the current Royal Opera House production surely raises the work a few rungs up the ladder of appeal.

The usual formula applies, of course. Great singers, a first rate orchestra and a thrilling chorus. No, I am not forgetting the other ingredients.

Let’s start with the chorus. There are operas where the members of the chorus have a couple of numbers, walk on the stage, sing their piece and are shepherded off to the wings. Not in Nabucco.   Verdi composed some exhilarating pieces for them and I am not referring solely to the all-too-famous Va pensiero. The chorus is bunched up in the centre of the stage when they render the legendary number but it is a mourning piece and does not call for electrifying singing like some of the other choruses. The augmented Royal Opera House Chorus is worth the price of admission alone.

 

Scene from Nabucco. Photo:Catherine Ashmore

The title role is sung alternately by Placido Domingo, the grand old man of opera and the relative newcomer, Greek baritone Dimitri Platanias making his Royal Opera House role debut.  He gives a signature performance. From the arrogant king to the unhinged ruler and humiliated father, he achieves simply superb vocal resonance and emotional range. Just listen to his delivery of Deh perdona  (Have mercy on a delirious father) where the great king is reduced to begging for mercy for his daughter from a slave who scorns him.

The slave is Abigaille who believes she is Nabucco’s older daughter but discovers that her parentage is less exalted. She is angry, betrayed, passionate, vengeful, destructive and power-hungry. She also has voice-wrecking vocal demands where she must display power, lyricism and perform sudden leaps up the scales. The soprano who tackles the role must deliver a bravura performance and still live to have a long career. Monastyrska does all of that and is unforgettable.

Soprano Jamie Barton is Nabucco’s real daughter and the one who has snatched the tenor. She does not face the same demands as Monastyrska but she gives a praiseworthy performance. Tenor Leonard Capalbo gives a fine accounting of himself in the role of Ismaele.

Canadian bass John Relyea sings the role of the Hebrew High Priest Zaccaria. His deep voice resonates superbly and impressively. Listen to his magnificent rendition of Del future nel bujo   (In the obscure future), his rousing sermon to the Hebrews that stirs defiance against their enemies.

Director Daniele Abbado and Designer Alison Chitty have opted for a production that has modern overtones especially with the issue of displaced people and refugees. The costumes are modern and I felt that the direction given was “come as you are and bring your children for good measure.” That is not as bad as it sounds because ordinary dress is quite suitable and many of the refugees one sees on television are not dressed better or worse than what one sees on stage at the Royal Opera House. Children are very much a part of the refugee problem and having a few of them on stage was á propos.

The set consisted of rectangular rocks and sand for much of the production. There was judicious use of projections (designed by Luca Scarzella) to dramatize some aspects of the production.

The concept behind the productions seems sound but I am not sure that the execution of it matched the intent.

Benini conducted the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House with the vigour and discipline that the music and concept of the opera demand. It was an outstanding performance.

PHILIPPOS ALEXANDROS – REVIEW OF KASSARAS’ OPERA IN THESSALONIKI PRODUCTION

James Karas

Philippos Alexandros by Sarantis Kassaras (music and libretto)

Directed by Theodoros Pantsios

Philippos                     George Sofialidis

Alexandros                  Apostolos Sotiroudis  

Olympias                     Anila Teli                                

Diogenes                     Yiannis Chouliaras                 

Demosthenes              Theodoros Pantsios

Dancer                         Konstantina Chouliaras

First Chorus Leader     Yiannis Vagienas

Second Chorus Leader Kostas Mylopoulos

Performed once on June 5, 2016 at the Vasiliko Theatro,

Thessaloniki, Greece

_____

Greek opera?

Callas, Souliotis, Paskalis, Baltsa, Theodossiou. That is not a bad list of Greek singers in opera even if some of them are slightly hyphenated.

Oh, you want Greek operas? The Greek National Library has hundreds of them but the chances that you have heard or seen many of them are not great. Let’s face it, Greek opera can best be described by that fine Hellenic word oxymoron. It is a contradiction in terms.

But don’t tell composer Sarantis Kassaras that. He composed Philipos Alexandros in 1994 and the opera was not performed until December 2015 when the Greek Community of Luxembourg staged it for the first time. The opera received its Greek premiere on June 5, 2015 at the Vasiliko Theatro Thessalonikis as part of the First International Conference of the Alexander Son of Philip Greek Macedonian Society (SAFEM).

The production was an unexpected bonus at a conference dealing with the legacy of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great. The plot deals with the relationship between the two great men and the dream of uniting the Greeks under one leader to confront the mighty Persian Empire.

Apostolos Sotiroudis as Alexander is a scrawny youth who handled the vocal demands of the role without exuding heroic prowess. Baritone George Sofialidis commanded authority vocally as King Philip although I could have done without the gold leaves on his head representing his royal crown, no doubt.

Soprano Anila Teli as Oympias had a formidable regal bearing with a strong upper register and fine vocalizing throughout. Yiannis Chouliaras with his gravelly voice was a fine comic representation of Diogenis the Cynic who told Alexander to step aside because he was shading the sun.

Theodoros Pantsios in a dramatic red tunic looked every inch the fiery Athenian orator who hated the Macedonians.

The opera has a male and a female chorus. The women wore lovely white dresses of classical design that matched their voices very nicely. The men wore a motley of cloaks slung over their shoulders but sung quite well.

Kassaras’s music has traditional and modern elements. There are strong rhythmic elements as well as melodic pieces. The music is scored for piano (played by the composer who also conducts the performance), harp (Yiota Miserli), trumpet (Kostas Damianidis), saxophone (Tetiana Masmanidou) and percussion (Stefanos Gazilas). The players are from the Orchestra of the Association of Musicians of Northern Greece. The Vasiliko Theatro has no pit and the orchestra played from the side of the ample stage.

The opera was directed by Theodoros Pantsios. It has elements of baroque chamber operas in its structure and some static features.

There is a handful of opera productions in Athens but almost none in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. The production is worth praising for that alone but for much more as well.

Oxymoron can mean sharp-dumb. If Kassaras had his choice he would remove “moron” from the issue of opera in Greece and make it a more familiar element in the Greek cultural landscape.

ELEKTRA – REVIEW OF LIVE FROM THE MET PRODUCTION

James Karas

ELEKTRA by Richard Strauss

Directed by Conducted by Set Designer Elektra Chrysothemis Clytemnestra Aigisthus Orestes

Patrice Chereau. Esa-Pekka Salonen Ruchard Peduzzi Nina Stemme Adrianne Pieczonka Waltraud Meier Burkhard Ulrich Eric Owen

Few sopranos possess the platinum lung power (steel is just not good enough) and the acting ability to handle Strauss’s Elektra. The performance is in effect an extended Mad Scene. The somewhat unhinged daughter of Agamemnon has been discarded from the royal household where her mother Clytemnestra and her new husband Aigisthus hold court. Her father was brutally murdered by Clytemnestra after his return from Troy with his concubine Cassandra. The soprano who can handle the role is Nina Stemme.

The opera opens in the courtyard of the palace where some servants are throwing chickenfeed and filling buckets of water. Another servant is sweeping the steps. It is an ordinary scene that we need to absorb until Elektra steps on the stage. What does the director for cinema Gary Halvorson do? He zeroes in on these meaningless activities as if we need close-ups of the servants and what they are feeding the chickens. This is ridiculous. We need to see the whole tableau before we observe the daughter of the great Agamemnon dressed basically in rags staring at us, clearly disturbed.

Stemme dominates the opera from the beginning as the dispossessed and bitter woman, through to her encounters with her haunted mother, to her hope for the return of her brother Orestes and her triumphal dance upon the murder of Clytemnestra and her Lover Aigisthus.

It is s searing and towering performance. We see her madness in her eyes, her face, and hear it in her voice that cascades towards us with power and amplitude.

Adrianne Pieczonka has a smaller role as Elektra’s sister Chrysothemis but she does not back off from delivering a similarly powerful performance.

Waltraud Meier as Clytemnestra is a slim and attractive as the woman who got a lover while her husband was at war in Troy and murdered him on his return. She is haunted and terrified of the consequences. She knows that if her son Orestes returns he will likely wreak vengeance on her and her lover. Meier shows us Clytemnestra trying to deal with all her ghosts while attempting to maintain her outward assurance. Again an astounding performance.

Eric Owens with his rumbling bass voice is the avenging Orestes. His fine voice stands him well but Owens lacks the vengeance and wrath required of Orestes. He is a nice guy not a retributive son.

Patrice Chereau first staged this production in 2013 at Aix-en-Provence. It is dome on a bare set consisting of a grand arch serving as the entrance to the palace and little else on the stage. There is a hole in which Elektra crawls and the modern ragamuffin costumes of the servants are appropriate without for his view of the opera.

Strauss’s music in all its power is delivered by The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen. The emphasis of the production and the performance is Elektra and with Stemme the in the title role the performance simply epochal.

Opera at its best

__________.          

Elektra by Richard Strauss was shown Live in HD on April 30 and broadcast again on June 11, 2016 at select Cineplex Cinemas. www.cineplex.com/events

AS YOU LIKE IT – REVIEW OF 2016 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

James Karas

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Directed by Jillian Keiley

Rosalind                  Petrina Bromley

Celia                       Trish Lindstrom       

Hymen                    Robin Hutton                                                                      

Orlando                   Cyrus Lane                            

Duchess Senior       Brigit Wilson

Jaques                    Seana McKenna

Duke Frederick        Scott Wentworth

Touchstone             Sanjay Talwar

Continues in repertory at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario

until October 22, 2016. www.starfordfestival.ca     

** (out of five)

The Stratford Festival offers an unforgettable production of As You Like It directed by Jillian Keiley.

You have heard of a play by William Shakespeare bearing that title and this production does have some similarities with it. For the rest it is an adaptation, a deviation, a brutalization and an ego trip for the director.

Keiley sets the play in Newfoundland in 1985 and that is acceptable. As you enter the theatre, you are presented with a loot bag containing a branch, a hat, a clothes pin, a fan and … isn’t that enough? A loud and lively woman is leading the cast into square dancing and whooping it up before the lights go down for the performance.

Members of the company in As You Like It. Photography by David Hou.

The loud lady tells us she is Hymen (Robin Hutton), the god of marriage and, as it turns out, she will be with us throughout the performance as a Chorus, Master of Ceremonies, Cheerleader and General Nuisance. Shakespeare forgot to include her in his play but the omission was almost certainly accidental.

To the loot bag. As You Like It takes place mostly in the Forest of Arden. Did you say “forest”? Take the branch out of your loot bag, hold up straight and presto we have created a forest. You will be asked to take out your fan and make a wave, put your stupid hat on and join in a sing-along and …you want more?

Keiley clearly views the theatre as a communal and participatory event and she wants the audience to be part of the action and not just a bunch of spectators who rely on the quality of the play or the excellence of the performance. She is tireless and tiresome in asking us to be part of the performance.

Shakespeare’s play does sneak through all of Keiley’s self-indulgent shenanigans and some of his humour comes through. Rosalind (Petrina Bromley) and Celia (Trish Lindstrom) are excitable young girls who jump for joy and do high fives. Not exactly Shakespearean but those culture-hungry teenagers may go crazy watching them. The country bumpkins (Corin (David Collins), Phebe (Ijeoma Emesowum), Audrey (Deirdre Gillard-Rowlings), Silvius (Jamie Mac) and William (Antoine Yared)  eventually do get a few laughs based on Shakespeare’s text and despite Keiley’s direction.

Trish Lindström (left) as Celia and Petrina Bromley as Rosalind inAs You Like It. Photography by David Hou.

Keiley has changed the gender of several characters including that of the exiled Duke Senior who becomes Duchess Senior (Birgit Wilson) and the usually male Jaques is played by Seana McKenna. No issue with that except that in the case of Seana McKenna at least, it is a waste of talent. The fine actors are lost in the surrounding drivel.

Is the production aimed at the high school students who will flock to Stratford in the fall? Are they likely to find the adaptation hilarious? Do we need two productions of the play – one for adults and one for teenagers?

In fairness, I should note that most of the audience enjoyed the latter part of the performance.

Shakespeare’s play ends with a charming epilogue where Rosalind conjures us to show our appreciation. Keiley butchers that too by inserting lines from other plays and improving the play.

That may be the cherry on the cake but it is unnecessary – by that time we have witnessed something unforgettable. 

ALICE IN WONDERLAND - REVIEW OF SHAW FESTIVAL 2016 PRODUCTION

James Karas

Alice in Wonderland  by Lewis Carroll

adapted and directed by Peter Hinton.

Music be Allen Cole. Set Designer Eo Sharpe,

Costumes by William Schmuck,

Projections by Beth Kates and Ben Chaisson

Cast

Tara Rosling, Graeme Somerville, Moya O’Connell

Kyle Blair, Donna Belleville, Ben Sanders,

Jennifer Phipps, Guy Bannerman, Neil Barclay

Elodie Gillett, Patty Jamieson, Kiera Sangster, Jonathan Tan

Continues in repertory at the Festival Theatre,

Niagara-on-the-Lake until October 16, 2016. www.shawfest.com    

*** (out of five)

The Shaw Festival seems to have spared no expense or effort in its presentation of a musical version of Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll’s novel has been adapted for the stage and directed by Peter Hinton and there were high expectations for the production.

And indeed it is a most colourful and beautifully designed piece. The costumes by William Schmuck are a sight to behold and with all the wonderful characters that Carroll provides the opportunities are ample. The result is spectacular.

The cast of Alice in Wonderland. Photo by David Cooper.

The set by Eo Sharpe, the projections designed by Beth Kates and Ban Chaisson, from a lake to Alice’s descent into Wonderland and many others are stunning with the lighting design by Kevin LaMotte adding to the sheer spectacle and kaleidoscope of colours.

All of the above add up to the highest and best production values one could wish for in a musical. But production values are not enough to make for a grand evening at the theatre. After about two and a half hours of watching Alice in Wonderland one was tempted to use the b-word as the ultimate impression of the music and text. Not boring but bland.

There are almost one hundred characters on the stage, if I counted them correctly. Many of the actors take three or four roles. The familiar ones all are there. Alice (a very spry and convincing Tara Rosling), White Rabbit (Ben Sanders), the Queen of Hearts (Moya O’Connell), the Mad Hatter (Graeme Somerville), the King of Hearts (Jay Turvey) and the rest. Peter Hinton has added about twenty members of Alice’s family in Oxford as a prologue and epilogue to Carroll’s book without necessarily improving it.

The cast of Alice in Wonderland. Photo by David Cooper.

We are taken through a number of episodes that Alice experiences in Wonderland after she falls through the rabbit hole. As I said they are indeed colourful with impressive theatricality but they are not really entertaining. There are a few laughs but they do not engage us. What is missing is sufficient content.

The music and songs by Allen Cole range from the cute to the banal. I cannot recall a single tune a few hours after the performance.

It is unfortunate that such wonderful production values did not get the music, text and humour to give us a great night at the theatre.

   

A CHORUS LINE - REVIEW OF STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

James Karas

A Chorus Line.  Conceived and originally

Directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett

Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante

Music by Marvin Hamlisch; Lyrics by Edward Kleban

  

Directed by Donna Feore

Zach                                      Juan Chioran

Mark                                      Colton Curtis          

Sheila                                    Ayrin Mackie                                        

Paul                                       Conor Scully                          

Cassie                                   Dayna Tietzen

Continues in repertory at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario

until October 30, 2016. www.starfordfestival.ca     

***** (out of five)

A Chorus Line celebrates and enlarges the legend of the dancers who make up the chorus in most musicals. In a nice twist of fate, the musical itself has become a legend as one of the longest running Broadway productions.

The dancers of the chorus are largely unknown. How many Broadway chorus dancers can one name? Unless they break through and become stars, they remain largely unknown in a tough career that last a few years. 

Members of the company in A Chorus Line.

A Chorus Line pays tribute to all of them. The musical examines the lives, ambitions, limitations and heartbreaks of dancers as they audition for a Broadway show. It opens with a rousing dance number and the apt song, “I Hope I Get It.”

Zach (Juan Chioran), the no-nonsense director puts them through their paces and quickly cuts the number of hopefuls to seventeen. At this point he decides to find out more about the dancers and asks them to tell their story. The chorus becomes a number of individuals with different backgrounds albeit a single dream of getting a job as dancers. Of the seventeen, only four men and four women will be chosen in the end.

The creators of the musical have thus created a dance and song extravaganza based on an audition with stories that humanize and individualize the members of a group.      

Donna Feore has choreographed and directed an extraordinary production for the Stratford Festival. The dancing from the halting start by some, to the disciplined, meticulous, athletic and graceful steps is simply splendid. We are treated to individual performances and ensemble routines that do credit to the title of the musical.

Members of the company in A Chorus Line. Photography by David Hou.

But there is also a plot that evolves as some of the dancers tell us their stories. The tall, leggy and arrogant Sheila (Ayrin Mackie) is every inch a dancer. Mark (Colton Curtis) tells the hilarious story of his first wet dream which he interprets as gonorrhea. He confesses his trauma to the parish priest with the vital information that he had never been with a woman.

Paul (Conor Scully) tells the moving story of finding out that he is gay and dancing in drag four performances a day. His parents eventually find out that he is gay and his father calls him “son” for the first time. Paul breaks down and Zach in a touching display of humanity gives him a comforting embrace.

The most complex story is that of Cassie (Dayna Tietzen). She had started in the chorus but was supposed to become a star. She shared an apartment with Zach but was not living with him because he was devoted to his career. She left him and went to California where things did not work out. She has been without work for two years and has taken the humiliating step of auditioning for the chorus. A moving scene.

We get a glorious performance which owes its success to the talented cast and musicians (conducted by Laura Burton) but most of the credit for a complex production must go to Donna Feore.