husk_charmer sees "Angels in America: The Opera" in Fort Worth

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 10:58am

Ok, I know it isn't Broadway, but I knew it would be lost on the Dallas board, and I figured some might be curious about it, so here it is.

MAY CONTAIN POTENTIAL SPOILERS

Overall Thoughts:
Some very stunning visuals, some nice stage pictures, mostly solid performances from non-actors, and the lousiest adaptation I have ever seen in my entire life...and I am including the recent "Ammityville Horror" re-make.

Notes on the Adaptation:
It is possible to take a large piece and condense it. The film version of "Gone With the Wind," the opera of "War and Peace," and the stage version of "Grapes of Wrath" all come to mind as reasonably-to very successful adaptations that leave the audience mostly content.

However, librettest Mari Mezei (the composer's wife), while retaining much (if not all) of Kushner's own words, looses something. The opera is broken into two acts.

Act I is "Millennium Approaches," and runs about 1 hour and 15 minutes. It gets almost everything major. It has essentially 15 scenes, and does a little re-arranging of material, but for the most part is a nice condensation.

Act II, is "Perestrokia" (Sp?) and clocks in at barely 50 minutes. Other than the Bolshevick monologue at the start (which is oddly complete), and Roy's horribly rushed death (he's in one scene in the hospital, Belize gives him some morphine, Ethel comes in, taunts him, sings the lullaby and he dies), it basically deals only with Prior. There is no resolution between Joe and Louis...or Joe and Harper...or Hannah and Joe...or Hannah and Harper...or Louis and Prior...and Harper just disappears.

Most of the double casting exists, however due to cuts the poor woman cast as Hannah is unable to do a quick change from Henry to Ethel Rosenberg to Hannah, so they assign Ethel to the actress playing Harper. And they switch around which continent each person represents, allowing Harper to be Antarctica (which made sense to me, and wasn't until I looked back at the script that I realized she wasn't)

The score, by Peter Eötvös is not so much a score as it is random notes played and sung. There are lots of hard sharp sounds and much of the score is reminiscent of "Alms, Alms for a miserable woman" in "Sweeney Todd." Since much of the scripts dialouge is turned into song, a lot of emotion is lost, a lot of humor is lost. The "f" word should never be sung on a High F with vibrato. Most of Belize's sassy remarks loose the humor because they are sung. And since all of the singing is in this drawn out dirge like pattern and pace, it gets monotonous.

The only really operatic parts involve the Angel, and then it is SO operatic that I was forced to read the super-titles to figure out what was being said.

"Angels" is one of those plays that has good potential as a musical, given it's fantasical nature, the dream sequences and anything with the Angel lend themselves well, and a better team (Flahtery and Ahrens? Jeanine Tesori and Kushner himself?) could have brought us something great.

Now, onto more production specific things.

The Cast:
For the most part the show is well-sung. There wasn't really any sort of weak member. Personally, I felt Ava Pine, who played the Angel, and Erin Elizabeth Smith, who played Harper, needed to be switched. Smith looked about 35 and maternal, but Craig Verm (Joe) looked all of about 22, so the look was a bit off, whereas Pine looked (and probably was) 22-24 and looked better next to him (for Curtain Call).

As Prior, David Adam Moore was a fine singer and actor, even if he did have a tendency to play Prior a bit more like a petulant 5 year old at times.

Scott Scully's Louis was more sympathetic than most, and while he wasn't as attractive as I would have expected, you could see why Prior would be attracted to him.

Janice Hall had probably the most intense roles as Hannah and more, which she handled deftly. She looked very much like a Chita Rivera, and had a gorgeous voice.

The Sets:
The show was done minimilistcally, with projection and partial wall units, and small elements. It made for some very striking images. All the set changes were done by a male ensemble (more on them to come), with the exception of anything that flew in. Heaven was by far the most gorgeous, as all the side tabs were lowered, exposing their ropes, with just the black drape at the back, and a gentle snow falling throughout.

For most of the split locales, they brought in these two wagons that were built up about 12 feet into the air, that the actors would appear on. Combined with the set/action on the main level, it created a nice visual contrast.

The only real complaint I had was they didn't always seem to know where to use projections, and which ones should be used. During the opening, the harsh music and swiriling projections made me very very motion sick, and the projection made no sense (swirling lights...at a funeral?).

The costumes:
This was not *the* weakest part, only because of what's coming. For the most part the male ensemble looked like they belonged in 1985. Most were dressed like punks, with mohawks and fishnet and ripped jeans. They all had sleeveless body stockings with angel wings tattoed on the back. In the park scenes, there were some dressed as punks, one or two "leather daddys" and a few preps.

The rest of the cast however, looked like they belonged in the 1990s. The only real exception being Joe (after having been with Louis for a little while), and Louis during the first hospital scene.

Special Effects:
These were almost more "special" than anything.

The appearance of the Angel resulted in three pieces of styrofoam (that looked connected) falling upstage right. Ten seconds later (I counted, because I wondered where the Angel was), the Angel SLAMS down, singing. All in all, anticlimatic.

Even more anticlimatic, was when the angel removes the book from the kitchen. She sort of waved her arms, and (I was sitting where I could see into the wings so I saw that for sure) someone squeezed a bottle of baby powder and dropped a book.

Final Thoughts:
I'm glad I saw it. Fort Worth Opera did a great job with some not-so great material, and deserves to be applauded for it. Had fun seeing Calvin (from BWW, we went together), but I wouldn't go back to see this again.

Updated On: 5/25/08 at 10:58 AM