Past Production Reviews
1The opera begins with Paul appealing his suspension from high school. Rebecca Belcyzk, Samantha Korbey and Nicole Rodin were the history, drawing and English teachers pushing for his suspension. They also sang well playing hotel maids in Act 2. The opening scene shows the stylistic stance of the words and music at their best. Spears writes in a minimalist style with some repetitions serving a baroque sense of ornamentation. The text is repetitive too, usually in the key fragments. This fits the opening scene because each of the characters is static. Spears' excellent ensemble writing welds it all into compelling music. Tenor Daniel Curran gave a superb performance of the title role, vocally secure across the nearly two-octave range and dramatically very well attuned to the somewhat mysterious ambiguities of Paul's character. Paul comes into his own in the split-stage second scene. He revels in his world at Carnegie Music Hall, while on the right side of the stage his father sits at a desk doing paperwork. Alex DeSocio offered well-supported singing in what is a one-dimensional role. Belczyk and Korbey shined in a duet Spears wrote, using lines by Stephen Crane, as an example of the art Paul enjoys. But that life is about to end. His father decides Paul must take a real job. The performance was effectively led by Glenn Lewis, who cued the singers attentively in the tricky score. The excellent nine-member ensemble was drawn from the opera orchestra, with assistant conductor James Lesniak playing piano. George Cedarquist's staging was direct and effective. Spears' opera is in two acts with an optional intermission, which Pittsburgh Opera declined. Performed straight through, the opera lasted a little more than an hour and a quarter. Although it felt long, the work is an impressive first opera from an obviously talented composer.
