8/1/2023 0 Comments Thompson street opera bobokThe exhibition will include nearly 150 objects drawn primarily from the artist’s bequest to the Morgan of over 900 drawings. It will include storyboards, preparatory sketches, costume studies, luminous watercolors, and meticulous dioramas from Mozart’s Magic Flute, Janáček's Cunning Little Vixen, Prokofiev’s Love for Three Oranges, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and an opera based on Sendak’s picture book Where the Wild Things Are. Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Designs for Opera and Ballet will be the first museum exhibition dedicated to this aspect of his career. In the late 1970s, he embarked on a successful second career as a designer of sets and costumes for the stage. He is now Managing Editor for for his beloved and acclaimed children’s books, Maurice Sendak (1928–2012) was also an avid music and opera lover. His work has appeared in Pure Uncut Candy, TheatreLouisville, and Louisville Mojo. Keith Waits is a native of Louisville who works at Louisville Visual Art during the days, including being the host of PUBLIC on ARTxFM/WXOX-LP, but spends most of his evenings indulging his taste for theatre, music and visual arts. The Man Who Woke Up is the opening production of Thompson Street Opera’s summer season and not to be missed. John Nulu Theatre is not air conditioned, so I would suggest you carry along a cold bottle of water. She understands that the self-awareness required by the material is best played with a light touch, and The Man Who Woke Up is a very funny and provocative opera. Judith Youngblood’s staging is simple but filled with comic gestures wisely placed for maximum effect. Kristina Bachrach enters relatively late, but manages to register her character’s emotions with clarity and impact. Emily Howes is appropriately slinky and sexy as Whiskers, and rises to the challenge of the character’s limited vocabulary by investing each “meow” with a vocal facility that was impressive. Preston Orr was a terrific Everyman, an average, slightly befuddled innocent caught up in a surreal circumstance. Schlossberg, whose ridiculously extended and repetitive ode to Whiskers was a highlight. The ensemble was in fine voice, with the unusual but effective presence of a contra-tenor in Mr. John Nulu Theatre allowed enough conflict in the volume of the piano and the voices to obscure some of the lines. The score was well played by Jessica Dorman and Adrienne Fontenot, although the acoustics in the open space of the St. At that time, the score was orchestrated for 30 musicians, but Haigh fashioned a new arrangement as a piano four hand in consideration of the small but ambitious company’s limited budget. The piece is short a one-act that runs just over 30 minutes, and Thompson Street Opera Company is presenting it in its American debut and first full staging after a concert performance in England. In either form, she is a dangerous, feline presence, with claws that she is not afraid to use. Haigh introduces the intriguing notion that other characters sometimes see Whiskers as a woman, and other times as a cat. Owner is infatuated with her, Woman is jealous, and The Man, is of course, mystified about the whole thing. There is a sly and malicious cat, Whiskers (Emily Howes), her Owner (Eric Schlossberg), and a Woman (Kristina Bachrach) who is his wife.Įnglish composer Robin Haigh’s first opera is a delightfully silly existential domestic drama in which Whiskers is in control. This irreverent gem explodes that cliché by being lean, economical, and utterly lacking in pomposity.Ī man wakes up disoriented: Where is he? What is happening? Why is he singing his thoughts out loud? Imagine an absurdist opera in the vein of Franz Kafka or Luigi Pirandello and you will have a running start on understanding what you are in for. Like Kafka’s Gregor Samsa, The Man (Preston Orr) finds his existence transformed: he finds himself in an opera, and a very odd opera it is. So maybe it’s the historical impression of stuffy, self-important storytelling in a foreign tongue – the cliché of opera that has been the impediment. The Man Who Woke Up is possibly the funniest opera this side of Gilbert & Sullivan, and yes, I realize they were masters of the light-opera, which serious aficionados will be quick to point out. I am on record as someone who has never developed a rapport with opera as a form. Photo courtesy of Thompson Street Opera CompanyĮntire contents copyright © 2016 Keith Waits. Kristina Bachrach & Preston Orr in The Man Who Woke Up.
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