Matinee

Went to a locally written Opera Sunday afternoon.

www.longleafopera.org/

To be upfront – I’m not a big fan of Opera. That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate good performances. I’ve been to enough to understand how it works and to appreciate it even if Opera isn’t necessarily my favorite art form.

First, the good stuff. The story was compelling (race relations in the South), costume and staging was excellent, choreography was just right, and the voices were strong.

They needed to be strong. Something needed to go well in order to overcome the locally written music and libretto.

The music was convoluted, piecemeal. It didn’t seem to have any real relationship with the story. It’s hard to sing the story when you have to rely on such a disjointed score. The performers did their best. Top this off with the orchestra frequently overpowering the singers – you just couldn’t follow what was going on – even in English.

Actually, even if the orchestra volume had been perfectly balanced with the performer's volume - it wouldn't have made any difference. Even perfect execution wouldn't have been able to overcome so poorly conceived music.

It’s good to see local companies stretch and try to create original works. You have to applaud the effort. Sometimes though, it just doesn’t work out. Unfortunately, this was one of the weakest (score and libretto) Operas I’ve ever attended.

One thing that always amazes me is the effort that goes into staging Opera. All these folks work really hard for a month or more to put on, in this case, 3 performances. That takes a lot of dedication and heart.