The Creation: Music Born of the Bible

The more than 50 voices of the Delaware Valley Chorale joined together to sing Franz Joseph Haydn’s masterpiece The Creation. Accompanied by a fine orchestra, under the nimble baton of Conductor and Artistic Director, David Christopher, this all-volunteer chorus (selected by audition) graced the audience with a fabulous performance of this lively setting of one of the Bible’s most beloved and well-known passages.

Christopher’s comments about the work being a hybrid of classical and baroque styles gave me a framework for listening and digesting the work. He described the work as an amalgam of Handelian choral singing and late classical music. The architecture of the piece could be heard clearly: the orchestral part, with its resounding timpani and warm strings provided the foundation, the choral writing, layered, imitative and sometimes canonic gave the work depth. The recitatives and arias were the decoration on this structure revealing the composer’s artistically musical interpretation of the text. The duets and trios brought the structure closer to the heavens with their soaring, virtuosic joy.

Bass Alex Helsabeck sang Raphael with clarity and warm, focused sound. Each phrase was planned and executed with gentle phrasing where the text required it. Helsabeck’s voice rich and full and he handles ornamented passages with grace, singing each note perfectly in pitch. In spite of the soloist’s unfortunate placement behind the orchestra, his voice was easily heard.

Joyous was tenor Dana Wilson (as Uriel) in his singing and presentation. Like Helsabeck, he projected out over the orchestra from the back with his sweet ringing tenor. Wilson brings the athleticism of his career as baseball umpire to his performance.

Melanie Sarakatsannis, soprano, provided the “icing on the cake” in the performance as Gabriel. She sang some wonderfully ornate passages with panache and a clear bright tone, projecting confidently. Her voice was well balanced with the other soloists in the duets and trios.

The real stars were the choristers. Haydn’s multi-layered piece provides many challenges in its imitative and canonic sections. Christopher has helped them grow into a group with a lush, unified quality. Each one of the singers is dedicated, and sings from a place of joy. That is exactly what they brought to the audience, too.

Matt Casarino – A 21st Century Renaissance Man

Actor, musician, beer connoisseur, bon vivant; all describe Matt Casarino. When I first met him while working on Kiss me, Kate at the Wilmington Drama League, I noticed his incredible energy.

From the audience, watching him on stage in The Music Man, that energy was almost palpable as he livened up the fictional town and the actual stage with his buoyancy.

But Matt is also a very serious and hard-working guy. He has been writing plays since 1997. His play Midnight Train to George was first runner up at this year’s Delaware Theatre Association’s 68th One Act Play Festival held on March 27, 2010 at the Everett Theatre in Middletown.

When I saw the play this past weekend at the adjudication of original works for the Eastern States Theatre Association at the Chapel Street Players, I was struck by how well the play’s dialogue was crafted. It’s the story of two women passengers on a bus…simple enough. Raye, a waitress in a diner, is bubbly and tells Kim she feels sure she has met her before. Kim denies it, but Raye persists to the point of annoyance. The words, their delivery and the flow of the dialogue seems so natural, I felt as if I were on the bus, too. I have heard so many similar conversations. As the play progresses, the tight writing makes everything move to a climax and then resolution – and all in less that thirty minutes.

Many of Matt’s plays have been published, including one in the Smith & Kraus Best 10 Minute Play series. He has had works performed all over the country – including stops in Delaware. Midnight Train to George was produced at both the Rehoboth Theatre of Arts and at City Theater Company in its 2009 series Casarino Royale in which it highlighted five of Matt’s works.
Matt’s day job is at the Wilmington Drama League, where he pretty much does everything when he is not being a musician or a playwright or keeping up his knowledge of distinguished brews.

See www.playscripts.com.
See www.mattcasarino.com.
See www.reverbnation.com/mattcasarino.

CTC Ends Season on a High Note with Falsettos

Already out and about for Art on the Town, I figured I’d add more material to the tour. I’d heard the hipsters at City Theater Company had partnered with AIDS Delaware to bring William Finn’s Falsettos to the stage. Since it hadn’t been produced in this area in more than a decade, I was eager to see what CTC – always engaging in its repertoire and staging – would bring to this Tony Award-winning play.

This season has been an amazing one for the company, starting with the blockbuster Sweeney Todd in December; CTC, as always, provided plenty to enjoy!

The Opening Night house, in The Black Box at OperaDelaware Studios, was sold to capacity, with folks even standing at the back. The Black Box space is intimate without feeling “tight”, and there truly doesn’t seem to be a bad seat in the house. You couldn’t have asked for a better opening evening – we hardly noticed the air conditioning was on the fritz, the show was so absorbing!

Falsettos is the story of the middle-aged, self-absorbed Marvin, who is struggling with his own issues and his relationships with his son, ex-wife, gay lover, psychiatrist (who marries his ex-wife) and the lesbian neighbors who live next door.

The entire cast is accomplished and well built by Producing Artistic Director Michael Gray. Gray has collected and directed an amazingly talented cast, creating a touching performance that focuses on the beauty and tragedy of all types of love and family, and he does so without sending an overly political or moral message. His interpretation of the characters is humorous, heartrending and real.

Marvin, passionately played by longtime CTC veteran Patrick O’Hara, is all-consuming in his needs. O’Hara’s voice booms and you feel his zeal and frustration as he sings “The Thrill of First Love”; then his tone lightens, coming through soothing and gentle in the touching “Father to Son”.

Jason is played expertly by Jameson May, a 12-year-old actor from Cab Calloway. May holds his own in this skillful cast and is especially enjoyable in “Jason’s Therapy” and “Miracle of Judaism”.

Mendel, Marvin’s psychiatrist and Trina’s new husband, finds hilarity and timidity in Jason Stockdale. Stockdale’s performance in “A Marriage Proposal” elicited laughter throughout the theater.

Jim Burns plays Whizzer, Marvin’s lover, with great strength in voice and manner. His performance of “The Games I Play” is compelling. His character is able to both captivate and infuriate. Jason loves him; Trina loathes him; Marvin seems torn between both.

Maggie Cogswell and Karen Murdock are solid and enjoyable as Cordelia and Charlotte, Marvin and Whizzer’s neighbors. They are funny and poignant, providing a wholeness to the story and further pushing home the notion that family bonds aren’t just born of blood relation.

The standout for me, though, was Trina, played riotously by Dana Michael. Michael’s neurotic, hilarious, needy, powerful performance brought the house down more than once, but her “I’m Breaking Down” was truly the pinnacle. I couldn’t imagine anyone playing this part better.

The performance enjoyed booming applause throughout, and ended with a standing ovation from the crowd. I heard one patron mention that he had seen the performance on Broadway and couldn’t wait to compare the two. CTC is up to that challenge.

Bottom line? You must see this show! We are so lucky that this musical has returned to the Delaware Arts scene. We’re even luckier that CTC is the group that has chosen to bring it. They offer one 2pm Sunday matinee on 5/16; all other shows are at 8:00pm.

See http://www.city-theater.org/