Thu 3/21-Sun 3/24
By the time this note appears, poor Tom Rakewell will have vanished from the Kleist Center’s Mainstage Theatre, but a note on his “life” seems to be in order. This admirably ambitious production of The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky was directed by Scott Skiba. Domenico Boyagian conducted the Baldwin Wallace Orchestra. Set changes were managed by imaginative projections.
The libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman succeeded in painting a picture (intended to warn BW undergrads?) of what happens to reckless youth who waste their talents (and inheritance) on frivolous pleasures.
The major roles were double-cast with Ethan Burck and Benjamin Krumreig as Tom Rakewell, Benjamin Czarnota and Marc Weagraff (both faculty members) as Nick Shadow, DeLaine Crutchfield and Giuliana Bozza as Tom’s sweetheart Anne Trulove, and Nan Golz and Sarah Antell as Baba the Turk.
The libretto breaks off from the 18th-century engravings by William Hogarth to underscore the ridiculous elements of Tom’s life after he makes a deal with the Devil for riches. Young Tom spends it foolishly. He dumps his faithful first love, marries a bearded woman, and throws parties for false friends. The result? Back to the dire scenes created by Hogarth. We see Tom suffer as he spends his sad final days in an insane asylum.
The night I went, Golz was especially delightful as poor Baba, a damsel with a beard to rival that of Blackbeard himself. The beard and the necessity of having to sit stone-still on stage with a veil completely covering her during a long scene neither disguised or hampered her beautiful voice.
BOTTOM LINE: A very well-done musical introduction to the perils of unearned income.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
Berea, OH 44017
Berea, OH 44017