Last weekend, Durango audiences were invited to two sparkling performances, hence the title: new wine in old bottles.
San Juan Symphony presented its third concert of the 39th season in Durango and Farmington. Conductor Thomas Heuser and company merely asked then colorfully answered the question: What is Music? Fort Lewis College staged a modern adaptation of an 18th-century farce: Carlo Goldoni’s “The Servant of Two Masters.”
Both productions brought a fresh perspective to conventional ways of doing things.
If you go
WHAT: Fort Lewis College “The Servant of Two Masters,” by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Virginia Scott.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, March 1.
WHERE: MainStage Theatre, Drama Building, FLC, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: Adults $28; FLC faculty and staff $15; non-FLC students $15; free to FLC students. Available at www.durangoconcerts.com. Plenty of free parking.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.fortlewis.edu.
If you love the old stuff, great works of music by Beethoven, Debussy and Elgar – or zany comedies with predictable characters and silly plots, you would not have been disappointed.
In what can only be called a high-voltage, creative partnership, Heuser and former college friend Bill Barclay have cooked up a fresh approach to orchestral programming. Barclay, director of Concert Theatre Works in New York City, has mounted 20 other collaborative productions and now adds “What Music Is” to an illustrious roster.
February’s world premiere with the San Juan Symphony was an audience-friendly exploration of science and art. The new form merges storytelling with concert fare. Barclay’s amiable, favorite-uncle style managed to deliver the connections between music and physics, math and astronomy with easy warmth. His occasional asides brought humor into the equation, and inviting the audience to sing Happy Birthday to Bill, himself, illustrated a point about synchronicity and added fun to the friendly, family-table atmosphere.
Barclay, Heuser and the orchestra eased into the “script” with a meaningful silence before a beautiful rendition of Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faune.” Thereafter, Barclay unspooled his thesis: Music and science have a deep and universal connection, illuminated by performances of works by Elgar, Prokofiev, a bit of Beethoven, and contemporary pieces by Holst, Saariaho and Montgomery.
Afterward, the audience buzzed about the program and the innovative concept. I have it on good authority that Barclay got the science right. Among others, two friends who are scientists, biology and astronomy, said Barclay got the science right. Music lovers said Heuser and company got the music right.
“The Servant of Two Masters,” by Carlo Goldoni, Italy’s most prolific playwright in the 18th century. It is but one of 150 works that defined the commedia dell’arte tradition. Goldoni also wrote 110 dramatic works plus 80 opera librettos. “Servant” features stock characters who are all engulfed in self-interest and the layered classes of Venetian society. To illuminate the multiple plot lines, Goldoni used simple exposition, so there’s a lot of who, what, where and what happened in the storytelling.
Visiting Director Virginia Scott adapted Goldoni’s 1745 script for a modern audience. She’s packed the telling with current references like Jonathan Bailey and Timothée Chalamet, not to mention songs: “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Mix in a crumble of Verdi’s “Dies Irae,” and you get the drift of this fast-moving, madcap style.
Scott keeps her big cast moving fast supported by a crackerjack technical crew, headed by Jeff Widen and company. The set is divided into a platform with a mini stage and a smaller band area with Foley props. Various cast members operate noisemakers, slap sticks, blocks, and play a keyboard and an acoustic guitar, music director Calvin Marshall’s territory as he adroitly plays the lovesick Silvio.
Katelyn Bowie (Truffaldino) energetically enacts the smarty-pants Figaro character. Always on the run, he must obey two aristocratic masters: Beatrice/Federigo (a cool Katie Bos) and Florindo (a dandified Damon Dickey). Evelyn Kelley enlivens drama queen Clarice with hilarious pink-hoop-dress meltdowns. Megan Sander’s costume crew outdo themselves with a pastiche of 18th- and 21st-century threads.
The 11-member cast zips about the stage, disappearing and returning with breathtaking energy. Improvised bits interrupt and may go awry. Last Sunday, a metallic, Madonna-inspired bra went amiss in a clothesline routine. But basic, direct-address exposition dominates – intermingled with songs and dancing. In short, it’s a romp.
The masks present problems with vocal production, so this visually charming play has its auditory problems. Would that the Foley table microphone could have been used by all.
The comedy runs through Saturday. Students attend for free – good call. But the college charges $28 general admission. Senior tickets of $15 have disappeared. That may be why the Sunday matinee was only one-third full. Please reconsider.
Reviving and repackaging familiar works – new wine in old bottles – is part of a larger trend in the arts. Great works from the past live on for a reason – rock solid style and content. In today’s world of performing arts, classic works and forms of presentation are undergoing a renaissance. Durango’s stages are part of that important cultural change.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
