Opera Review: Opera Theatre's "Julius Caesar" boasts musical excellence

When George Frederic Handel’s “Julius Caesar” (“Giulio Cesare”) had its 1724 premiere at the King’s Theatre in London, it was a huge success. That’s because it gave audiences what they wanted: dramatic thrills, lavish sets, and first and foremost spectacular singing. They expected (and got) a classic opera seria—a drama intended to be “serious in tone and clear in structure”—with a heroic Caesar and a seductive (and ultimately commanding) Cleopatra.

[Watch my interview with Conductor Daniela Candillari.]

L-R: Sarah Mesko, Emoily Pogorelc
Photo: Eric Woolsey

I don’t know whether or not the current Opera Theatre of St. Louis (OTSL) production is giving the audience what it wants but judging from the opening night applause it’s certainly giving them a solid evening’s entertainment. Musically, this “Julius Caesar” is impeccable and, yes, the singing is spectacular. The staging, however, is at odds with the text, the music, and that spectacular singing.

I’ll circle back to that right after I talk about the best thing about this “Julius Caesar”: the exceptional performances by members of the St. Louis Symphony under the baton of OTSL Principal Conductor Daniela Candillari and by the amazing cast.

In Handel’s day, the leading male roles were usually sung by castrati—or, as they were euphemistically called at the time, “musici”.  These were male singers who had been castrated before puberty to keep their high voices. These days those roles are sung by women or, when you can find one, a male countertenor who understands Baroque singing style. That can sound odd to a modern audience, but Opera Theatre’s cast is so uniformly strong that this wasn’t an issue.

L-R: Key'mon Murrah, Meridian Prall
Photo: Eric Woolsey

Mezzo Sarah Mesko as Caesar and soprano Emily Pogorelc as Cleopatra looked and sounded equally at home in their dramatic solos. Mesko’s “Va tacito e nascosto,” in which Caesar compares his pursuit of Ptolemy to a hunter pursing his prey, was a highlight, as was Pogorelc’s seductive “V’adoro, pupille.” Mesko cuts a heroic figure as the self-proclaimed “master of the world,” and Pogorelc’s portrayal of Cleopatra’s progression from superficial tease to triumphant empress is masterfully done.

Countertenor Key’mon Murrah, who made such a strong impression on me in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s “Messiah” in 2022, displayed a stunning vocal and dramatic range as the scheming Ptolemy. His high notes could have shattered glass, and like the rest of the cast, he has a good feel for Baroque vocal ornamentation.

Mezzo Meridian Prall plumbs tragic depths as Cornelia, the window of the murdered Pompey. At the same time, she’s obliged to repel the unwelcome attempts at sexual assault by the Egyptian general Achillas, sung with menacing authority by bass-baritone Cory McGee. Mezzo Megan Moore sounds utterly at ease in the soprano role of Pompey’s son Sextus and vividly evokes the character’s seething rage in the revenge aria “Svegliatevi nel core.”

Megan Moore
Photo: Eric Woolsey

Mezzo Madeline Lyon and bass John Godhard Mburu make strong impressions as, respectively, Cleopatra’s aide Nirena (originally Nireno, another castrato part) and Caesar’s tribune Curio, despite the drastic cuts in their roles.

Conducting from the harpsichord just as Handel did Back in the Day, OTSL Principal Conductor Daniela Candillari leads members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a wonderfully idiomatic reading of the score. Her knowledge of and affection for the music are obvious. There are also memorable solo moments by, among others, Principal Horn Roger Kaza accompanying Mesko “Va tacito” (virtually a duet for voice and natural horn), and the elaborate imitations of birdsong by Second Associate Concertmaster Celeste Golden Andrews as an entranced Caesar enters Cleopatra’s garden.

Musically, in short, OTSL’s “Julius Caesar” in a winner. The staging, however, is another matter.

In her program note, Stage Director Elkhannah Pulitzer talks about her intention to “to preserve the beauty and arc of the characters and remain faithful to their journeys of discovery…. The transformative force of love, the brutality of power wielded with malice, the courage to overthrow tyranny, as well as the deep valleys of loss and healing we all experience as humans, make it universal.” It’s not clear to me how those admirable goals are served by putting everyone in modern dress and moving the action from first century B.C. Egypt to a sterile grayscale business center, complete with a focus-stealing cleaning staff.

The cast of "Julius Caesar"
Photo: Eric Woolsey

Her declared intentions notwithstanding, Pulitzer seems to have directed the work with a wink and a nod, filling it with lots of fussy stage business, show biz choreography, and even visual gags that seem to be suggesting that we really shouldn’t take all this stuff about heroism, love, and tragedy all that seriously. Not surprisingly, the opening night house responded by laughing at scenes that were never intended to be seen as amusing.

The conventions of Baroque opera create a distance from modern audiences as it is. Mocking them only increases that distance. In attempting to make “Julius Caesar” contemporary, Pulitzer has merely made it silly.

That said, the sheer musical excellence of this production probably makes it worth seeing despite its theatrical sins. Performances of “Julius Caesar” are sung in English with English supertitles and take place through June 28th at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. Run time is around two hours and fifty minutes including intermission. More information is available at the Opera Theatre web site.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of June 10, 2024

What's on St. Louis theater and cabaret stages this coming week. Please leave a comment if anything was wrong or got left out

Woman in Mind
Photo: John Lamb

Albion Theatre Company presents Woman in Mind (December Bee) by Alan Ayckbourn through June 23. “Susan, a housewife who is married to a rather boring cleric, is knocked out by a garden rake.  She experiences hallucinations, imagining an ideal family, in contrast to her tedious, oppressive real life.  However, things begin to spiral out of control and become a nightmare.  Ayckbourn again shows his mastery of combining tremendous humor with poignancy as relationships collapse.” Performances take place in the Black Box Theatre at the Kranzberg Center, 501 N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: albiontheatrestl.org.

Xavier May

The Blue Strawberry presents Xavier May in A Night of Black Musical Theater on Thursday June 13, at 7:30 pm. “What do you get when you take a black kid who grew up listening to and singing along with all their parents favorite RnB/Soul artists, and give them some musical theatre training? Xavier May, that’s what you get! From Stephen Sondheim to Stevie Wonder, Xaviers got it all! Though St. Louis is their home, they’ve spent the last two years in Nashville studying in Belmont University’s Musical Theatre program. Now, they’re back and ready for their first show at the Blue Strawberry, and it’s going to be an evening you won’t want to miss! Get ready for a night full of fun, music, and friendship.”  The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle.  For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

Circus Flora presents Marooned through June  23. “Inspired by the allure and mystery of a deserted island, “Marooned!” transports audiences into a world of adventure, discovery, and enchantment. Witness the resilience and ingenuity of our world-class acrobats and other circus performers as they navigate the challenges of the unknown, bringing to life a tale of survival, camaraderie, and the enduring spirit of the human heart. Will our circus castaways survive? Join us to find out!” Performances take place at The Big Top on Washington next to Powell Hall in Grand Center. For more information: circusflora.org.

The Gateway Men’s Chorus presents Journeys and Destinations on Saturday an 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm June 15 and 16. “The mystery and the magic of our lives is often in the roads we've traveled, the paths we've taken, and the sojourns that have led us to where we are today. Join GMC as we experience the journeys of our lives, the songs that shaped us as adults, and the long and winding path from past to present to the better world we hope to build. This feel-good concert will weave a spell upon your heart and touch upon the magic that lives within us all.” Performances take place at The Link Auditorium, 4504 Westminster Place in the Central West End. For more information: www.gmcstl.org.

We All Fall Down
Photo: Jon Gitchoff

New Jewish Theatre presents We All Fall Down by Lila Rose Kaplan Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 4 and 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through June 16. “Linda and Saul Stein still live in the Westchester home where they raised their two beautiful daughters. But when Saul unexpectedly retires, Linda summons the family to celebrate Passover for the first time in decades. Linda tends slightly toward the theatrical (okay, a lot), and their family has never been particularly religious (okay, not at all). So their comic attempts to bring the Seder to life go from riotous to heart-wrenching.  Can this family come together, or will an age-old tradition tear them apart?” Performances take place at the SFC Performing Arts Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. For more information: jccstl.com.

Dracula
Photo: Jill Ritter Lindberg

New Line Theatre presents the musical Dracula, based on the book by Bram Stoker with music and lyrics by Frank Wildhorn, through June 22. “Broadway songwriter Frank Wildhorn (Bonnie & Clyde, Wonderland, Jekyll & Hyde) delivers his most epic score for this riveting, fast-paced, Gothic rock opera, faithful to the iconic novel but with some unexpected twists and turns. As much a tragic love story as a thriller, this terrifying and passionate retelling of the famous story dives deep into the powerful, shattering emotions of these characters and these complicated relationships, as only musical theatre can. For Dracula, Wildhorn reunites with his Bonnie & Clyde lyricist Don Black, for one of the wildest and most emotional rides you’ve had in the theatre in a long time.” Performances take place at the Marcelle Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: https://www.newlinetheatre.com.

The Barber of Seville
Photo: Eric Woolsey

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Rossini’s The Barber of Seville through June 29. “Take a romp through a world of high notes, hijinks, and hair-raising escapades with Rossini’s comedic masterpiece. The razor-sharp barber Figaro may be a master mischief-maker, but his favorite role is that of matchmaker. When he meets Count Almaviva, a dashing but naïve young nobleman, he promises to help Almaviva win the heart of the beautiful Rosina. A comedy of mistaken identities, cunning disguises, and laugh-out-loud antics ensues as the love-struck Almaviva attempts to outwit Rosina’s guardian.” Performances are sung in English with projected English supertitles and take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University Campus. Run time is approximately two hours and forty minutes including intermission. For more information: opera-stl.org.

La Bohème
Photo: Eric Woolsey

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Puccini’s La Bohème through June 30. “Ignite your senses and surrender to the intoxicating allure of young love. Set against the backdrop of Paris, a group of bohemian artists find solace and comradery in their shared dreams. In their frosty attic, a chance encounter ignites a romance between the seamstress Mimì and the poet Rodolfo. Their love flourishes in winter’s chill…yet as winter gives way to spring, the realities of the world begin to cast a shadow over their idyllic affair. In the face of adversity, Mimì and Rodolfo must confront the painful truth that like the seasons, some love affairs must come to an end.” Performances are sung in English with projected English supertitles and take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University Campus. Run time is approximately two hours and thirty minutes including intermission. For more information: opera-stl.org.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Philip Glass’s Galileo Galilei opening on Saturday, June 15, at 7:30 pm and running through June 29. “Discover the captivating story of one of the greatest — and most courageous — scientists in history. Galileo’s unwavering dedication to the pursuit of knowledge paved the way for groundbreaking scientific advancements, but also caused fierce conflicts with the Church he loved. This opera shines a light on Galileo’s steadfast spirit and reminds us of the enduring importance of intellectual curiosity. Today, Galileo’s story resonates more than ever, urging us to reevaluate our own beliefs, challenge the status quo, and stand firm in our convictions, no matter the consequences.” Performances are sung in English with projected English supertitles and take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University Campus. Run time is approximately ninety minutes with no intermission. For more information: opera-stl.org.

Julius Caesar
Photo: Eric Woolsey

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Handel’s Julius Caesar running through June 28. “Who said that passion and politics make for poor bedfellows? Experience Handel’s captivating love story of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, whose audacious affair rewrote the course of history. As sparks fly between these two rulers, love becomes a battlefield, and the most important conquest is that of the heart. But with pretenders to the throne lurking on all sides, desire can sometimes be a double-sided weapon.” Performances are sung in English with projected English supertitles and take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University Campus. For more information: opera-stl.org.

Steel Magnolias
Photo: Phillip Hamer

Stages St. Louis presents the comedy Steel Magnolias through June 30. “Take a trip south to the town of Chinquapin, Louisiana and join the ladies at Truvy’s Salon in Steel Magnolias. Here anyone who’s anyone not only comes to get their hair cut and styled, but also leaves with free advice…whether asked for or not. Along with her eager assistant Annelle, Truvy pampers a collection of clients with both style and gossip: M’Lynn and her soon-to-be-married daughter Shelby, the wisecracking and crotchety Ouiser, and the well-to-do Clairee. Together these touching, heartfelt, outspoken, and hilarious ladies forge friendships as strong as steel that help them through both the good times and the bad.” Performances take place at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center in Kirkwood, MO. For more information: stagesstlouis.org.

As You Like It
Photo: Phillip Hamer

St. Louis Shakespeare Festival presents the comedy As You Like It Tuesdays through Sundays at 8 pm through June 23. “In this spontaneous romp, the brilliant and resourceful heroine, Rosalind, and her friends, exiled from the confines of city life to the Forest of Arden, are free to explore new identities, friendships, and (of course) love. Nancy Bell’s production is romantic, lusty, funny and full of heart and longing for a sweeter life. Featuring live music and new songs from St. Louis indie singer-songwriter Beth Bombara, with a lavish gilded age setting.” Performances take place nightly at 8 pm except for Mondays at Shakespeare Glenn next to the Art Museum in Forest Park. For more information: stlshakes.org.

The St. Louis Writers Group presents a reading of the play The Debate of God by Brad Slavik on  Monday, June 10, at 6:30 pm. “A Catholic priest, a Jew, a Muslim, and a Buddhist monk walk into the audience hall of the great Khan of the Mongol Empire. Sounds like the beginning of a joke but it was a real situation: in 1254 the Great Khan ordered a debate between Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists. Thus is brought into the crucible all the differences and all the similarities of the three great religions. It brought its share of conflict, comedy, and intrigue. It also brings in three unlikely friendships and an unexpected ending. Sit back and relax and let the story teller, Yakob of Uzgen explain it all.” The reading takes place at the Schlafly Tap Room in Midtown.  More information is available at the St. Louis Writers Group Facebook page.

Ripcord
Photo: John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents David Lindsay-Abaire’s comedy Ripcord Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 through June 22, with an additional performance at 2 pm on Sunday June 16. “The Golden Girls meets The Odd Couple in this madcap comedy. When cantankerous Abby is forced to share her room in a retirement home with endlessly chipper Marilyn, a feud between the mismatched roommates results in a bet to determine who stays and who goes. Seemingly harmless at first, the two women quickly escalate into dangerous games of one-upmanship.” Performances take place at Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee in Tower Grove East. For more information: www.straydogtheatre.org

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.

To get your event listed here, send an email to chuck at kdhx.org Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills.

Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

Review: Vice chairman

Vice triumphant. Virtue punished. Wisdom dismissed out of hand. Just another day with Fox and Friends. Or maybe Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea at Opera Theatre.

Brenton Ryan, Emily Fons
Photo by Eric Woolsey

Originally written for the Venetian carnival season in 1643 and then largely forgotten until the late 19th century, Monteverdi's last opera is the story of how Nero divorced his wife Octavia and elevated his mistress Poppea to the throne. There are at least a dozen different editions of the opera, and in all of them Giovanni Francesco Brusenello's libretto takes considerable liberties with what we know of history.

Director Tim Albery adds a few more in the English translation he prepared for this production, which originated at Opera North in Leeds (UK) in 2014. But all of them end with Nerone and Poppea singing a rapturous love duet after dispatching their rivals through a mix of violence and banishment. For the original Venetian audience, it would have been an opportunity to relish a wicked entertainment while still reflecting on how this tale of moral corruption was so typical of those decadent Romans.

David Pittsinger
Photo by Eric Woolsey

Judging from the hairstyles and costumes, Mr. Albery has moved the action from 65 AD to the 1960s, thereby allowing a contemporary audience to view the disreputable action from a comforting (if illusory) distance. And if you can ignore the pointlessly ugly set, which appears to be a cross between a disused swimming pool and a warehouse, it's still pretty wickedly entertaining. It retains a darkly comic edge right up the final act, when Mr. Albery jumps the shark with some violence that's not in any version of the libretto, including his own.

Monteverdi's heavily ornamented music demands a lot from the singers, and certainly gets it from this excellent cast. Tenor Brenton Ryan and mezzo Emily Fons both do full justice to their characters' acrobatic vocal lines while convincingly conveying their unbridled lust and borderline mania. Bass-baritone David Pittsinger's is a vocal powerhouse as the philosopher Seneca and soprano Patricia Schuman displays impressive musical and dramatic range as Poppea's nurse Arnalta, a role often sung by a contralto or even a tenor.

Sarah Mesko, Tom Scott-Cowell
Photo by Eric Woolsey

Countertenor Tom Scott-Cowell makes an auspicious OTSL debut as Ottone, whose love for Poppea's maid Drusilla (soprano Devon Gutherie in another striking performance) dooms them both to exile (in the libretto) and death (in Mr. Albery's staging). As the guard Lucano, tenor Philippe L'Esperance has a nice star turn in the inebriated Act II singing contest with Nerone.

Soprano Sydney Baedke makes her dual roles of the goddess Fortuna and the page Valletto so clearly different that I didn't notice at first that they were being sung by the same person. There's great work here as well by soprano Jennifer Aylmer as the goddess Virtù, mezzo Michaela Wolz as the strutting Amore (a.k.a. Cupid), and mezzo Sarah Mesko as the tragically spurned Ottavia. As Seneca's three Familiari, countertenor Jacob Ingbar, tenor Joseph McBrayer, and bass Griffen Hogan Tracy shine in their complex second act trio.

Patricia Schuman, Emily Fons
Photo by Eric Woolsey

The eight-piece on-stage Baroque orchestra, including two theorbos, a lirone, and a viola da gamba, plays the score with crystalline perfection under the direction of Nichola Kok, conducting from one of the two harpsichords.

Opera Theatre's The Coronation of Poppea has one more performance on Friday, June 28th. It's sung in English with projected English text and it's on view at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus.

Opera Review: Singing as Olympic sport in Opera Theatre's "Richard the Lionheart"

Tim Meady
Photo: Ken Howard

Who: Opera Theatre of St. Louis
What: Handel's Richard the Lionheart
Where: The Loretto-Hilton Center, St. Louis
When: through June 26, 2015

If you're in the mood for an evening of singing so incredible that you'll wonder why it isn't an Olympic sport, then allow me to recommend Opera Theatre's production of the American premiere of Handel's "Richard the Lionheart" (original Italian title: "Riccardo primo, re d’Inghilterra"), final performances of which are this Wednesday at Friday at 8 at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus.

Written in London (where Handel's Italian-language historical operas were all the rage) for the Royal Academy of Music's 1726/27 season, "Richard" was intended, in part, as a celebratory work for the coronation of England's King George II. As a result it turns England's feckless Crusader king into an absurdly noble romantic figure and suffers (in my view) from an overdose of English Jingoism in its final act.

Yes, that’s right: an opera written in Italian by a German-born composer celebrates the English virtues of George II, a German-born King. It’s enough to make your head spin.

One other thing that might make your head spin if you're not an opera and/or classical music fan is that fact that the male leads in "Richard the Lionheart" (Richard and the Syrian prince Oronte) are sung not by tenors but by countertenors—men who sing in the mezzo-soprano or alto range. That's because in Handel's day it was fashionable for these parts to be sung by castrati—male singers who were castrated before puberty and whose voices, therefore, never dropped in pitch.

Handel had a couple of the great castrati of his era to work with in this opera, so Richard and Oronte's arias are flashy and absurdly difficult, filled with elaborate, rapid passages and florid ornamentation. Opera Theatre has, happily, two fine singers in the roles: Tim Mead as Richard and Tai Oney as Oronte. Mr. Mead is clearly the stronger of the two, with a powerful, wide-ranging voice and a convincingly forceful stage presence, although Mr. Oney is no slouch. Their respective calls to arms in the third act are a highlight.

The story of the opera is based on a real incident in 1191 in which Richard's fiancée, Berengaria of Navarre, was shipwrecked off the coast of Cyprus and held hostage by the island's ruler, Isaac Komnenos. Richard conquered the island and got her back. The opera changes Berengaria's name to Costanza and adds a subplot in which Isaac (Isacio in the opera) tries to pass off his daughter Pulcheria as Richard's intended, much to the distress of Pulcheria's lover Oronte.

L-R: Susannah Biller and Devon Guthrie
Photo: Ken Howard

It's silly stuff and stage director Lee Blakeley has tacked on an unconvincingly dark ending that flatly contradicts the text and the music, but nothing can detract from the fine singing and acting of this cast.

I've already praised Mr. Mead and Mr. Oney. Soprano Susannah Biller has a crystal-clear coloratura that navigates the music with ease, while soprano Devon Guthrie has an equally impressive but darker tone that works well for Pulcheria. Bass-baritone Brandon Cedel radiates menace as Isacio and bass Adam Lau is warmly sympathetic as Costanza's cousin Berardo. Both have formidable voices that project well.

Grant Llewellyn conducts the appropriately small orchestra with great flair and sensitivity. Their playing is perfection, with shout-outs to Laura Osterlund on sopranino recorder for her wonderful work on Costanza's "swallow" aria, and to Simon Martyn-Ellis, whose archlute adds a nice bite to the continuo part played by Damien Francoeur-Krzyzek on harpsichord and Melissa Brooks on 'cello.

For the full Opera Theatre experience, come early and have a picnic or a drink on a table on the lawn. For details on "Richard the Lionheart" and the other three operas this season, visit the company web site.