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Double Bill: Riders to the Sea and Trial by Jury
A double bill of two one-act operas: Ralph Vaughan Williams' beautiful and emotionally charged Riders to the Sea and Trial by Jury, a courtroom farce that was the first big hit for Gilbert and Sullivan.
Cast:
Christopher Austin, Don Bicoy, Catherine Carlin, Ole Hass, Daniele Lorio, Leslie Mutchler
John Edward Niles, Artistic Director/Conductor
Jane Christenson, Stage Director
The following review appeared in the Washington Post on April 7, 2008.
From the courtroom to the open sea, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia gave drama, nuance and unflagging energy to its performances Friday night at the Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre.
In Gilbert and Sullivan's "Trial by Jury," the caricatures of judge, plaintiff and defendant maintained humor and freshness. Throughout the breach-of-promise-of-marriage case, Ole Hass elicited sighs from a doo-wopish quartet of stenographers with a sleek tenor and a white suit, and as the glamorous, bejeweled plaintiff, Catherine Carlin charmed the jury and the judge with bright-voiced coloratura. With a polished bass-baritone, Christopher Austin made the most of his role as a bumbling judge, checking his reflexes with his gavel when bored. Director Jane Christenson created a stage that was lively but never too busy.
OTNV paired the short opera with Ralph Vaughan Williams's "Riders to the Sea." In contrast to the witty patter and singable waltzes and ballads of Gilbert and Sullivan, Vaughan Williams sets a bleak, harmonically uncertain landscape for Ireland's west coast. Accented chords swell and recede, creating a sense of waves -- literal and of grief. Maurya, played by Leslie Mutchler, has lost five sons to the sea as the opera begins, six by its end. After recent performances as Hansel and Carmen, it is clear that Mutchler's range is vast. She aged believably, and effectively used her dark, clear voice to convey mournful and hollow qualities. Carlin returned to play the daughter Cathleen, and Daniele Lorio showed a promising soprano as Nora.