Review by Tony Busch
Drop everything and book a ticket to this amazing production before its short season is over this week.
“Moby Dick” is a triumph. This epic American novel has been skilfully compacted to a perfect balance of dramatic action and human frailty, and then beautifully scored to produce a mesmerising evening of musical theatre. Forget any preconceptions you might have about opera being a dated or irrelevant art form or any fear that modern opera isn’t easy to listen to.
The production values are awesome. Director Leonard Foglia, set designer Robert Brill, projection designer Elaine McCarthy and costume designer Jane Greenwood have created a thoroughly involving and credible environment that brings the whaler Pequod alive and delivers the scale and epic dimension needed to make the drama work. Scene transitions are seamless. The two whaling sequences are superb as is the hot, harsh setting of rendering the whale blubber, which provides the background to the confrontation between Captain Ahab and First Mate Starbuck.
Jake Heggie’s music is lyrical and captivating and his orchestrations sublime, ranging from the translucent delicacy of plankton to leviathan climaxes. Gene Scheer’s libretto delivers not just a cohesive story but ample character development too.
The cast is uniformly brilliant.
Jay Hunter Morris is a driven Captain Ahab, a charismatic leader of men whose obsession with the white whale who took his leg brings disaster. It is a commanding performance.
He is perfectly matched by Grant Doyle as Starbuck, the lone voice of reason. His is a superb portrayal of a man caught in the cross-hairs of someone else’s fate and his Act 2 duet with Ahab is a highlight.
James Egglestone sings Greenhorn with warmth and sincerity and a beautiful legato line. Jonathan Lemalu is a mighty Queequeg. Byron Watson as Stubbs, Adam Goodburn as Flask and Douglas McNicol as Captain Gardiner all contribute wonderful performances. Lorina Gore makes a winning Cabin Boy, Pip, and her scene lost at sea is chilling.
The Chorus exceeds its usual impeccable standards with a particularly rich and lustrous sound. Indeed, the choruses are some of the highlights of the piece.
Conductor and Chorus Master Timothy Sexton is in total control of the brilliant Adelaide Symphony and extracts every nuance of musical colour from the score.
Bravo to all who had a hand in co-commissioning this work with the Dallas, San Diego, San Francisco and Calgary operas. It’s a production that all South Australian’s should be immensely proud of and one that no musical theatre lover should miss. So book a ticket now.
Link to original review here
