Has It Really Been 525,600 Minutes...Times 20? RENT Celebrates a Milestone at The Playhouse.

Julia Mason is the Marketing Manager for The Buccini/Pollin Group. Her additional passions include her website, positivelyglamorous.com, making homemade ice cream and the great outdoors.

Rent 20th Anniversary Tour by Jonathan Larson at The Playhouse on Rodney Square is the revival of Larson's 1996 Broadway landmark that encompasses social issues and unveils the dark realities individuals face through powerful music and dance. Although a serious premise, the audience will definitely experience a few chuckles throughout the thought-provoking musical.

The production opens up with Benny — Mark and Roger’s previous roommate — purchasing the building in which the two, along with a unique group of close-knit homeless people, reside. Benny secured funding for the building from his wealthy father-in-law, to fuel his desire is to build a high-tech cyber-arts studio on the property.

Benny’s first step toward his goal is ensuring everything goes smoothly, but the residents are not about to leave without a fight. Maureen, Mark's former girlfriend, is happy to be in charge of the protest. Benny offers a deal to Mark and Roger: Stop the protest and they can remain rent-free. However, things do no go as planned, and chaos erupts (which Mark videotapes). From there, everyone is locked out of the place they once called home.

I should note that this was my very first time seeing Rent, and I’m so grateful I was able to experience it at the historical Playhouse on Rodney Square. Throughout the performance, what stood out most to me (besides the powerful music) was the stage décor and the lighting; it really brought the musical to life and was much more interactive than plays I have seen in the past.

My favorite character by far was Angel, played by David Merino. His voice, energy and dance skills were incredible, and you could feel is love for the character radiating throughout his performance. A newcomer to the theatre scene, Aaron Harrington, who played Tom Collins, has a deep, beautiful voice that also stood out among the extremely talented cast.

Overall, the play was wonderful, and it engulfed the audience, getting them to interact a few times. The person that joined me (who chooses to remain anonymous) even became unusually teary-eyed!

There is only one day left of this performance, tonight (October 30). Don’t miss your chance to see it — even if you have seen Rent in the past — this cast will make it a memorable experience!

See www.theplayhousede.org.

DSO Chamber Series Highlights Two Great Works

DSO Concertmaster, violinist David Southorn

By Christine Facciolo
The Delaware Symphony Orchestra opened its 2016-17 Chamber Series Tuesday, October 18, at the Hotel du Pont’s Gold Ballroom with stellar performances of two of the most important works of the chamber music repertoire: Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht and Vivaldi’s iconic The Four Seasons.

Schoenberg and Vivaldi might seem like an odd pairing, but both works explore an insightful journey via the pictorial marriage between poetry and music.

Inspired by a poem by Richard Dehmel, Verklarte Nacht describes a conversation between a man and a woman as they walk through a dark forest under a brilliantly expressive night sky. The woman is pregnant with a child of a different man. The man she is walking with loves her and tells her he is prepared to accept her unborn child as his own.

The work unfolds in five sections which correspond to the structure of Dehmel’s poem. The various emotions of the two characters — love, pain, guilt, forgiveness — find their equivalents in Schoenberg’s passionate music, making the work one of the first examples of program music written for a chamber ensemble.

Originally scored for string sextet, DSO Music Director David Amado opted for the expanded version for string orchestra. The group of 22 strings produced a meaty performance that emphasized the dramatic structure of Verklarte Nacht but never at the expense of the score’s lyrical beauty. The textures were appropriately bass heavy, yet every line came through with exceptional clarity, allowing the counterpoint to drive the music and lead the ear through the dense harmonic web. The cadences, where suddenly a radiant major chord wells up from the dour depth, produced a profound sense of exaltation.

The second half of the program featured Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons — one of the most recognizable works of the classical music repertoire. Like Verklarte Nacht, The Four Seasons conveys a journey through spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each season is introduced by a poem, possibly composed by Vivaldi, that offers a description of what experiences the music is about to conjure up: The heat of summer; the peasant celebrations and imbibing of autumn; the violent storms of spring; and the cold and ice of winter.

DSO Concertmaster David Southorn was nothing less than brilliant as soloist in these four “evergreen” concertos. He delivered it all — a powerful sound; immaculate precision and compelling agility in the furious figurations of the fast sections; impeccable phrasing and a polished lyricism in the more tranquil sections. This was a zestful performance that continued unabated until the final note was struck.

Southorn was ably supported by the 22 string players. This was a beautifully balanced performance with a nice contrast between soloist and orchestra. The programmatic drama of the score was neither shortchange nor overdone, leaving the impression that each participant had contributed something important.

See www.delawaresymphony.org. 

Brandywine Baroque Opens Season with Beautiful French Program

By Christine Facciolo

Brandywine Baroque opened its 2016-17 season with a wonderfully planned concert of 17th and 18th Century French music. The program — titled “Shades of Love” — was brief in description but generous in its offerings, providing the perfect showcase for the talents of its five instrumentalists, two harpsichordists and soprano Laura Heimes. The music sampled various genres of Baroque instrumental and vocal music, offering a glimpse into the world of the underplayed but brilliant music of the French court.

The concert opened with Michel Pignolet de Monteclair’s chamber cantata Pan & Sirinx composed around 1716. The cantata relates the myth of Syrinx who, pursued by Pan, was turned into reeds by water nymphs. Pan, discovering the effect of his breath across the reeds, turned them into his flute.

Like many Baroque vocal works, the cantata alternates between reflective arias and narrative recitatives. Heimes delivered the arias effortlessly and exquisitely, allowing the melody to flow its course without hindrance. Her soprano gleamed in the recitatives, coaxing just enough reverberation from The Barn at Flintwoods. Flutist Eileen Grycky conveyed the instrumental effect of Pan’s pursuit in the final three sections of the cantata, her playing augmenting the ensemble in timbre and depth.

Grycky was equally effective soloing in the Sonata Op.2, No. 5 in G Major by Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764), one of the sonatas for which the composer offered the choice of violin or flute. Her warm burnished tones shape the exquisite phrasing of the slow movements yet convey the Italian-inspired fire and energy in the fast.

Leclair’s Eighth Sonata engages the violin (Edwin Huizinga) and viola da gamba (Donna Fournier) in polite dialogue that becomes more animated with chains of trills in the Finale.

Huizinga captured the joyfulness of Sonata Op. 12, No. 6 in C Major by Louis-Gabriel Guillemain (1705-1770) with the pure, expressive tone of his violin, while Grycky’s flute perked up the entire ensemble, especially when she had rising figures to play.

Gambists Fournier and John Mark Rozendaal explored the changing textures and rhythms of Les batteries by Jean de Sainte-Colombe (fl. 1658-87- c.1701). The two returned after intermission with an exquisite yet deliberate rendering of the quirky but beautiful L’Arabesque by Marin Marais (1656-1728).

The second half of the program featured two main works: Pieces in F by Louis Couperin (1626-1661) and Orphee, a cantata by Louis-Nicolas Clerembault (1676-1728).

The harpsichord is a mesmerizing instrument in the hands of the right artist, and Brandywine Baroque Founding Artistic Director Karen Flint is one of those artists. It was a genuine pleasure to hear Couperin’s F Major played with dignity and clarity and expression. This was a performance to remember.

Heimes returned to conclude the concert with a performance of Orphee. This retelling of the Orpheus legend with a happy ending is replete with gorgeous melodies and embellishments which made it a superb showcase for Heimes’s wide vocal range and dramatic talent. A nice way to end an engaging concert!

See www.brandywinebaroque.org.