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Another new work from Tapestry Opera

Toronto
Berkeley Street Theatre
05/27/2016 -  & May 28*, 29, 31, June 2, 3, 4, 2016
Gareth Williams: Rocking Horse Winner (Premiere)
Asitha Tennekoon (Paul), Carla Huhtanen (Ava), Keith Klassen (Oscar), Peter McGillivray (Bassett), Sean Clark, Aaron Durand, Erica Iris, Elaina Moreau (The House)
Ensemble conducted by Jordan de Souza
Michael Hidetoshi Mori (director), Camellia Koo (set designer), Ming Wong (costume designer), Michelle Ramsay (lighting designer)


A. Tennekoon (© Dahlia Katz)


This was the premiere of a one-act opera (70 minutes in length), the fourth collaboration between Toronto’s Tapestry Opera and Scottish Opera. Toronto-based librettist Anna Chatterton has teamed up with Edinburgh-based composer Gareth Williams to create this work based on D. H. Lawrence’s short story (published 1926) that recounts a young boy’s uncanny ability to predict the outcome of horse races as he goes into a trance-like frenzy while riding his rocking horse. He secretly funnels his winnings to his unloving mother who, although affluent, is fixated on getting more money.


The two main characters never really connect or clash. In the story the aloof mother feels some anxiety toward the end, but then the boy dies. The big challenge in the opera is to dramatize something that never really comes about, namely the son’s connection with the stubbornly resistant mother. Her unhappy mood is established at the outset but then she has nowhere else to go. Carla Huhtanen, who can always be relied upon to express the most in a role, is simply not given any scope to develop her character.


Tenor Asitha Tennekoon, on the other hand, is sympathetic as the man-child son, Paul. The other two main roles are the ever-cheerful father, ably portrayed by Keith Klassen, and Bassett, the family gardener, a skimpily-sketched role, sung by the under-utilized Peter Mc Gillivrey. Four other singers perform as “The House”, a ghostly presence in the story that becomes an ill-defined presence in the opera.


Production values are fine and the two-level set adds a welcome degree of dynamism.


Gareth Williams has a nice way with counterpoint supporting the vocal lines, but while the music supports the singers it fails to propel the drama along. Conductor Jordan de Souza gives his usual energetic lead to the accompanying ensemble, a string quartet plus piano. (However, where I sat the piano was too obtrusive at times - a pitfall of the small venue.)


Lawrence’s story is a parable with an unhappy ending. It was a challenging choice for a dramatization and the result is a tenuous work with ambiguities that fail to intrigue.



Michael Johnson

 

 

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