Canterbury Voices offers great, grand ‘Messiah’
For theater lovers and yuletide enthusiasts, having a faithful, high-quality production of “A Christmas Carol” staged every year right in town is a blessing to be praised.
For the seventh year, Lyric Theatre is continuing what already has become a beloved Oklahoma City theatrical tradition by performing Charles Dickens’ timeless tale of Christmastime redemption on its cozy Plaza District stage.
In keeping with Producing Artistic Director Michael Baron’s plan to shake up the production every five years, Lyric is in its second year of a new-look “A Christmas Carol” featuring a new set, costumes and roles for the company, which includes many Lyric favorites who have been with the show from the beginning.
Dominated by a clever revolve that not only helps to pull off the story’s ghostly enchantments but also adds a bit of theater magic to even the most mundane scenes, Kimberly Powers’ set design charmingly approximates the streets of Victorian London.
Jeffrey Meek’s costume designs also beautifully invoke the period, and audience members get a nice close-up look at many of the period clothes on the occasions when actors make their way up or down the aisles. The sparkling outfit Meek devised for the Ghost of Christmas Past, a glittering ghost who looks more like a fairy than a phantasm, and the Ghost of Christmas Present, who calls to mind a grand Russian version of Santa Claus, deserve special praise. Seeing the play for the first time, my daughter Brenna, 7, and son Gabe, 11, were surprised and enchanted by these beautiful ghosts.
A hit since it was published on Dec. 19, 1843, Dickens’ story of a greedy businessman who changes his selfish ways after he is haunted by four ghosts on the night When: 24. Through Dec.
Where: Lyric at the Plaza, 1725 NW 16.
Tickets and information: lyric theatreokc.com or 524-9312.
before Christmas has become a seasonal staple in the United States, where it has been adapted countless times for the stage, film and television.
For the second year, Dirk Lumbard, whose Broadway credits include “The Music Man,” “Barnum” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” is playing Ebenezer Scrooge, the hardhearted miser at the heart of Dickens’ story.
To put it in movie terms, the seasoned actor, who divides his time between New York City and Raleigh, North Carolina, creates a Scrooge that is less George C. Scott’s gruff meanness and more Alastair Sim’s sharptongued scolding. It’s not my favorite artistic choice: I’ve personally never found the Sim model for Scrooge intimidating enough to justify the way other characters treat him with such caution, to call for the way narrators Matthew Alvin Brown and Brenda Williams scamper off when they see him coming. Although I don’t care for his style of Scrooge, there’s no faulting the quality of Lumbard’s performance; his portrayal is by turns odious, pitiable and triumphant.
In contrast, Charlie Monnot and Nakeisha McGee are imminently likable as Scrooge’s long-suffering clerk Bob Cratchit and his wife. At the Dec. 1 performance, the children of the Ivy cast, who alternate with the youngsters of the Holly cast, were uniformly solid, especially Anthony Neumann as the Cratchit’s crippled youngest son, Tiny Tim, and Delaney S. Horton as Scrooge’s ill-fated sister, Fan.
Andi Dema goes over the top playing Scrooge’s determinedly cheerful nephew Fred, but his turn as the younger version of Scrooge has a tenderness that makes the miser’s downfall even more resonant. When they’re not winningly narrating, Brown brings a bit of comedy as Fred’s bumbling pal Topper, and Williams adds a matter-of-fact hardness to her performance of Scrooge’s pilfering maid, Mrs. Dilber.
Impressively juggling three divergent roles, Thomas E. Cunningham is particularly effective as the chained and regretful spirit of Scrooge’s dead partner Marley, and he gets the haunting off to a thrilling start.
Playing the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, respectively, Natalya Ferch and Mateja Govich each prove they know how to make a grand entrance. Even better, Ferch manages to exude both whimsy and wistfulness while hanging from a harness high above the stage, while Govich is at once jolly and stern in his dealings with Scrooge.
Astonishingly convincing puppets designed by Penny Benson also help bring Dicken’s “Ghost Story of Christmas” to life.
Under Baron’s surehanded direction, Lyric’s “A Christmas Carol” brings extra holiday cheer to the spirited story by working in wonderful old seasonal songs like “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” “Good King Wenceslas” and “What Child Is This,” which are beautifully sung by the talented cast.
Performances continue through Dec. 24 at Lyric at the Plaza. The cast is taking cash donations for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma after each show.
G.F. Handel, a German master of the Baroque, composed his “Messiah” in 1741 as an oratorio (singing of prayer) designed for a concert hall.
In the 19th century, larger choruses and orchestras became common, and in the 1950s, Eugene Goossens and Sir Thomas Beecham orchestrated and recorded a definitive ‘large orchestra’ version of “Messiah.”
Canterbury Voices, taking advantage of the outstanding Oklahoma City Philharmonic and the acoustic space of the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre at the Civic Center, revived the Goossens/Beecham version last Sunday evening. It was a beautifully performed and directed performance of an extraordinary musical event.
Canterbury artistic director and conductor Randi Von Ellefson was at the baton for the performance. Oklahoma City is fortunate to have a solid, artistically proficient orchestra, and their performances were expert and supportive of the voices. The Overture and Pastoral Symphony — both entirely instrumental — were expressive and musically detailed.
The four soloists were all strong dramatic voices; they easily and gracefully brought Handel’s settings alive and delivered the texts — all from the early version of the King James translation — with such clarity that the libretto in the program was all but unnecessary.
Tenor Steven Sanders opened the program with a text from Isaiah; his rich delivery flowed over the words of the recitative and lifted the aria into the air of the concert hall. Both tenor arias were strong and robustly sung.
Jordan Andrews sang the bass arias with great confidence and power.
His voice is young and strong, reaching depths of expression that match the sonorous melodies of the bass. His two arias bookend the dramatic arc, asking “Who shall abide?” leading to “The trumpet shall sound.”
Mezzo-soprano April Golliver-Mohiuddin sang the alto arias with scrupulous fidelity and fluidity. She perfectly blended exactness of diction with musicality.
Handel’s alto arias underscore the narrative; whether the cry to stand up and sing good news or the description of a man “despised and acquainted with grief,” these arias are the voice of humanity, and Golliver-Mohiuddin
THEATER REVIEW
represented well.
Soprano Autumn West delivered the soprano arias with extraordinary detail and elevation. Her voice is ideal for this material; the clarity of delivery and precision of pitch and diction supported the spiraling melodies that Handel gives to the soprano in this oratorio. Both are messages of hope and courage; West sang confident optimism into the room with her performance.
The necessary and sufficient cause for Handel’s “Messiah” is a great chorus. Canterbury Voices is such a chorus. Baroque music demands extreme precision; there are many runs and ornaments that must be sung as if with one voice. Getting 20-plus sopranos to sing the same group of eighth notes in exact synchrony is an achievement shared between the chorus and the conductor; multiply that by the number of parts, the need to match dynamics, and then add musicality and artistry.
This overwhelming task did not in any way overwhelm the singers of Canterbury Voices, nor their accomplished conductor. Von Ellefson has brought this very large group of voices in to a blended unity in which all can take pride.
Canterbury Voices’ next concert is March 9 at the Civic Center. The group will feature Mozart’s “Mass in C minor” — sometimes called the “Great” mass. Call 232-7464 or go to canterburyokc.com/ for more information.