Masterful Work by Mastersingers of Wilmington

By Guest Blogger, Barb Bullock
Barb is the Director of Development and Communications for Wilmington Renaissance Corporation. Barb has worked for a variety of arts organizations (Kennett Symphony Orchestra, Grand Opera House, OperaDelaware  and Delaware Theatre Company) and was the Executive Director of First Night Wilmington, a family celebration of the arts held on New Year’s Eve.

On Sunday, December 16, the Mastersingers of Wilmington – under the superb direction of Market Street Music's Artistic Director David Schelat – presented their exquisite annual holiday concert, The Wonder of Christmas with guest organist, Marvin Mills.  Warm holiday cheer and spirit filled the beautiful First and Central Church, as the remarkable musicians of Mastersingers presented four centuries of Christmas music – a wonderful mix of classical pieces and favorite carols to an enthusiastic audience of nearly 400 listeners.  This packed house is one of the largest audiences the Mastersingers have experienced at a performance.

The program's highlights included Surge, Illuminare by Mastersingers conductor, David Schelat; Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow arranged by Marvin Mills; Ríu, Ríu, Chíu, Ave Maria and the beautiful Quem Pastores Laudavere by New York City composer, James Bassi.

The Mastersingers of Wilmington is a 28-voice choral ensemble of the finest professional and amateur singers in the region. Highly regarded for its choral sound and impeccable singing, the group explores classics of choral repertoire, new music and world music in its riveting!

Up next for the Mastersingers: Rich Increase: Shakespeare to Spirituals, Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 7:30pm at First and Central.

See www.marketstreetmusicde.org

Bloody Good Fun with CTC’s Bat Boy

Cast of Bat Boy taking their bows

One of the tightest productions you could see in Wilmington is playing at the Black Box of OperaDelaware Studios. Bat boy: the musical by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe is a hilarious romp of a rock musical which director Michael Gray and music director Joe Trainor managed to fit onto the tiny stagelet on the Riverfront. The stage was bare, but with a jungle gym background reminiscent of trees and forest in the rural hills of West Virginia. The play’s opening lets the bars of the jungle gym be the walls of a cave where our intrepid siblings find a boy/bat in a cave and capture him.

Of course, the rest of the musical revolves around the identification, education and sanitization of the Bat Boy, played brilliantly by Brendan Sheehan. Whether he is cramped in a cage or mauled by fans and foes, Sheehan comes through with shining colors. Every detail – from his crooning mimic of his fellow humans to his totally convincing adaptation of BBC received speech – is spot on.

The orchestra is also beautiful, although it, too, must remain caged behind a black backdrop to avoid their overpowering the singers. Yet, the cues are perfect and the singers and orchestra seemed melded together for harmony and dynamics thanks to an inventive webcam setup. Christopher Tolomeo and Robert Dilton had some brilliant keyboard licks (although we didn’t know who was on when).

The cast was superb and surreal, with several gender changes and an explosive conversion – from a Lily Tomlin-like, pursed-lipped crone turning into a jiving rocking sexed-up Pan in the name of love – a superb release of Adam Wahlberg’s real vocal power as Pan. Steve Weatherman was a powerhouse as a rural whining mother and Reverend Hightower plus several other roles into which he was able to slip in about five seconds, costume change included.

Dana Michael and Jenna Kuerzi are two tiny sprites who play spirited mother and teenaged daughter, respectively. They rock, shuck and jive with the oversized vigor of the energizer Bunny coming out of lithe and slender bodies. Those two and the rest of the cast, all of whom have incredible light and spark, managed to do all of their singing and dancing while swinging up and down their jungle gym bars as if born to it.

If you feel like you need a jolt of energy in these winter doldrum days – stop by the Black Box at OperaDelaware Studios before December 15!

See www.city-theater.org.

OperaDelaware Opens Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci

Ruggiero Leoncavallo

Pietro Mascagni

Brendan Cooke has every right to be proud of his first production with OperaDelaware. Making your debut after a hurricane pummels through the neighborhood, disrupting practice and work is a challenge, but Cooke and his team did a great job. The set seemed just like a small Sicilian village and worked quite well visually, but how people walked on that slant and set up chairs on it is a mystery.

The set worked beautifully for the opening of Cavalleria Rusticana (Pietro Mascgani), with Lola and Turiddu ending their tryst upstage not seeing Santuzza downstage taking in the whole affair. Kara Shay Thomson as Santuzza has a very strong and expressive soprano voice. Her duets with both Turridu (John Pickle) and Alfio (José Sacin) showed the strength of all three singers who were easily able to be heard above the full orchestra. The flute, harp and horn accompaniments were delicate and beautifully executed.

As I Pagliacci begins, the four actors are on the apron while behind them, the inhabitants of the town freeze in position and are absolutely stock still while Tonio tells them about the show they will see in the evening. Not a hair moved and several players froze with legs in mid-swing and hands raised.

John Pickle was able to be a gentle and fickle lover in Cavalleria and changed to a violently jealous husband in I Pagliacci. His extremely dramatic and strong Pagliaccio non sono was where he gave his most compelling and gripping performance. And perhaps because of the complex texture of the Leoncavallo score to I Pagliacci the orchestra seemed to be more dramatic as well. Mark Ward played several soaring cello solos – especially for Pagliaccio’s forget all else. And the bassoon solos were smooth and haunting.

Susan Nelson as Nedda had the kind of voice and acting that had you glued to her. Her ability to sing the high notes and phrase beautifully were matched by her ability to sing no matter whether she was fighting, jumping or sprawled in her lover’s lap.

The orchestra played such a moving entreacte in I Pagliacci that the audience sighed when the curtain re-opened. But as the play within the play began, the trumpet (Frank Ferraro) solo was just terrific. Rong Tan played harp throughout each opera with intensely melodic phrasing and subtle shading.

This is a great production and well worth seeing. The next performances are Friday, November 9 and Saturday, November 10.

See www.operade.org.