A tale of great entertainent:
Dateline; Sun Oct 27; Place, the Gus S. Wortham Theater Center, To hear the Houston Opera Company perform, Saul, an Oratorio by George Frederic Handel (1685-1759). Our arrival was in perfect time to hear the pre talk, giving us an overview of the history of the oratorio, the tasks, problems and solutions faced in the mounting of the Oratorio and some about the singers and dancers and painting a picture of the brilliance of it all. What a winner this theatre experience was. The Oratorio SAUL by Handel was composed in 1738 and is his telling of the Biblical tale after David slayed the Giant Goliath. the performance lasted 3 hours with 1 intermission. We sat in the loges on raised stools perched 4 rows from railing edge. We could see the full orchestra with continuo instruments, organ, Celeste, and more. The Overture was in 4 parts; Allegro, Largo, Allegro, Minuetto with the curtain going up at end of the 2nd movement. The scene was glorious, chock full of the 40 chorus members and 7 dancers sitting on a huge banquet table laden with a celebratory feast and silently doing a “ballet” in their places with hand and body movements, each person sustaining many different poses. How colorful, charming, humorous and fetching. The whole performance was filled with dance, movement and action, not a concert performance and not a fully fledged traditional operatic performance. Two large rectangular white clothed tables become stage characters throughout the performance; placed horizontally, vertically, horizontally with space between for action. The final act was done on a bare stage but covered with black sand that is actually an insulation product we found out from the lead playing SAUL, Baritone Christopher Purves in post concert talk. The stage is not flat but raked at quite a big angle. David portrayed by Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen with an impressive bio including an intensive musical background and Jewish Studies. His Contra Tenor voice is rich and stunning! The costumes are reminiscent of Handel’s time not Biblical-like garb.They are colorful and then change to all black garb or all white, enhancing the drama. The 7 wonderful dancers performed innovative, award winning modern dance. The long performance was flawless and beautiful as was the singing, dancing and acting. Saul depicts the story after the slaying of Goliath and a humbled David, an angered King Saul, his son Jonathan and Saul’s daughters and the love, hate and mental anguish suffered by the King and his family and followers. It is hard to summarize properly. Enjoy a synopsis at: https://www.houstongrandopera.org/saul?gclid=CjwKCAjwo9rtBRAdEiwA_WXcFiL1xuiOZnezwQCa0jPY10EfezmO3t7asrFVrOHWCsFhE1rhIJcyEhoCUEEQAvD_BwE
We had the thrill of a post performance talk by the Baritone Christopher Purves, playing Saul, a brilliant performer as were all of the characters.We will be floating on the memories of this performance for weeks to come and forever more. I can’t share the photos I took, they are secured as I found out and I can understand the reasoning. However, if you follow this URL hopefully 4 images will appear, 2 of the Paley staircase, one of the curtain call and Christopher Purves speaking. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO-ACISLIGJOPJmnVMl7fwDqif-hf7pCSXC5Bw44xFe7psOswHOmmjeUuyrVKTPNg?key=ZmNfUXd3OVZiMWZ2eWVhZ3hCVHdWcG1RNzladUhR
We were delighted to see the beautiful staircase enhanced by Albert Paley’s sculptures. He is the Metal artist from Rochester, NY, our home town and done in 1987. What a joyous day.