A most epic undertaking
Luminato stages a 1,000-member-strong production of R. Murray Schafer’s extravagant composition
Apocalypsis is huge. The musical theatre work by R. Murray Schafer will be staged this week for this first time in 35 years as part of the Luminato Festival.
The production at the Sony Centre will include nearly 1,000 people — both professional and amateur — to perform the epic that recounts the end of the world and its transformation. Commissioned by the CBC in 1976,
Apocalypsis has been performed in its entirety only once, in London, Ont., in 1980.
The sheer scope of the project is so daunting it has taken a large festival with vast resources to mount it again.
Schafer, 81, has watched the production unfold at rehearsals and is expected to attend.
CBC Radio 2 is broadcasting the show live at 2 p.m. on Sunday and Luminato is producing a CD of the historic event.
The Director
Who: Lemi Ponifasio
The CV: Founder of MAU, a contemporary dance and theatre company in New Zealand.
The job description: He’s responsible for every facet of the show from selecting and directing performers to staging. Things could look chaotic on the Apocalypsis stage as new performers constantly cycle on and off stage, but Ponifasio is unfazed. “Normally my projects are very big,” he says. To make it work, he needs “a sense of co-operation, good spirit and all realizing it’s not going to be easy if they don’t focus and be quiet.” Even the choirs have memorized their lines so they will be acting instead of reading sheet music.
Music Master
Who: David Fallis
The CV: The artistic director of the Toronto Consort chamber ensemble and music director of Opera Atelier.
The job description: It’s daunting. He’ll lead hundreds of people, guiding 20 conductors who each direct their own choirs while the musicians will use monitors to watch Fallis operating from the centre of things.
The Musicians
How many: 50 brass, over 100 strings, 12 percussionists, 20 high instruments, from age 6 to 86.
Who: Members of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Royal Conservatory, University of Toronto and youth branches of established bands, such as the Hannaford Youth Program. They come from all over eastern Ontario and are a mix of professional and amateur musicians. The Cecilia Quartet, a Toronto group that scouted 11 other quartets to play, describes Schafer’s score as rapturous, immense, glorious.
The Choirs
How many: 800 singers in choirs from the GTA and beyond.
Who: Male choirs, children’s choirs, female choirs and mixed choirs were required for the production. Vocal punch comes courtesy of Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Hamilton Children’s Choir and Seraphim Men’s Chorus (Toronto) and more. They sing individually and together.
Why: “It’s an overwhelming sound, it’s a spectacle,” says Kelly Galbraith of Cantores Celestes Women’s Choir (a.k.a. Heavenly Singers). She was struck by the beauty of Schafer’s hand-drawn scores, which contain instructions for the singers and movements of characters.
Soloists
How many: Six. Who: Tony Award winner Brent Carver plays the Antichrist. “This is a kind of new learning curve,” says Carver. Soprano Carla Huhtanen sings the role of “Living Creature” and says performances change with each scene. The array of voices and instruments go from “huge decibels to utter silence. It’s quite simple, but the effect will be strong,” she says. Artist Nina Arsenault, throat singer Tanya Tagaq, New Zealand opera singer Kawiti Waetford and dancer Denise Fujiwara also appear.
Dancers
How many: 24, with five travelling from New Zealand’s MAU.
Pay special attention to: Principal dancer Ioane Papalii, who plays Cosmic Christ. A MAU veteran of many big shows, he termed Apocalypsis “the ultimate community theatre project.”
The composer and his work
For Schafer, this may be the last opportunity to see his epic work of musical theatre performed and it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most. Schafer directed the first show in London in 1980 but is just a visitor to this expanded version, which will be the vision of Ponifasio. Part one, “John’s Vision,” explores the cataclysmic events in the Book of Revelations. Part 2, “Credo,” celebrates God and the universe using the words of Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno.
The Sony Centre
Luminato’s artistic director, Jorn Weisbrodt, explored both Varsity Stadium and Fort York as venues before choosing the Sony Centre, which will be modified to accommodate the huge cast. Six stage managers co-ordinate the small army onstage and in the balconies for the three performances Friday to Sunday.