The matinee was jam-packed Sunday at the Wortham Center when the Houston Grand Opera Chorus and Orchestra featured one of its much praised performances, Chorus!.
‘Chorus! is a fast-moving sequence of more than 20 eclectic choral selections from opera, operetta, musical theater and oratorio,’ according to a HGO press release.
This musical drama is performed in two acts in several languages with English supertitles.
In Act I, music from Sergei Prokofiev’s War and Peace sets the scene as the stage opens with a crowd of men and women walking around, dressed in black suits and dresses. The people try to combat an outsider who is one of their own, Peter Grimes.
‘ Although some women try to hide Grimes, rebels with flashlights soon appear and try to overpower the women. The rebels fail at their attempt as they are lured by the whispers of quiet spirits to rest and sleep during the night, which is also a time for sensual pleasures.’ ‘ ‘ ‘
In the end of Act I, the people realize that their sensual pleasures must be governed by the police, but that the police can also be corrupted. ‘O Fortuna’ from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana brings the act to a close, as the people realize they have no choice but to surrender to the power of fickle fortune.
As the trumpets blow in Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhauser, Act II opens with a red carpet on stage as men and women enter the scene in suits and evening dresses with white gloves and hats. Celebrities make their way in the scene as they walk down the red carpet, and the people idolize their glamour and fame.
Music is played from Arthur Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, and it alerts the audience to the pirates lurking among the guests. The ones who are righteous do not notice the less respectable among them, and these characters attend church to music from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music.
Drunken policemen disturb the peace in the streets, and Act II comes to a close when a messenger informs the policemen warning them of Tsar Peter’s regime. Enveloped by their own fear, the policemen appeal to their leader, Prince Khovansky, who realizes that resistance is ineffective. The people realize they face impending death to music from Modest Musorgsky’s Khovanshchina, and are left with nothing else to do but to lament.
With 600 costumes, 90 singers and the empowering music of the HGO orchestra, this upscale performance is one of the most unique stage performances brought to Houston.
‘ ‘The repertoire of Chorus! spans more than 300 years, from the baroque music of Purcell and Handel to that of the 20th century composer Leonard Bernstein,’ HGO Director and CEO Anthony Freud said.
It is the second performance the HGO has seen of Australian director David Pountney, who has directed for the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera and the prestigious English National Opera.
‘It’s important to note that this (is) far from a choir performance,’ Pountney said. ‘Chorus! is a fully costumed and staged production.”
The production opened Friday and will continue to run until Feb. 13.
