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Rakes
Progress Blends the Beautiful with the Ugly
by Faith Richards
Although Stravinsky is probably best known for his
ballet scores, the reception on opening night of Oberlins production
of his opera, The Rakes Progress, left nothing to be desired.
The operas combination of the comic and the grotesque, the beautiful
and the disturbing, struck the audience deeply and left them with
an impression not easily forgotten.
The plot of the opera is a 20th century version of the classic Faust
story with a slight twist. In the traditional story, Faust knows that
he sells his soul to the devil to buy a life of eternal pleasures.
In The Rakes Progress, Tom Rakewell is unaware of the true nature
of the mysterious stranger who makes him rich and ultimately destroys
him. The chilling moral of the opera is that the Devil always finds
work for those with idle hands and that not everyone is as lucky as
Tom, who is eventually saved by his true love, Anne. There is a rich
combination of tragedy and comedy within the body of the work that
held the audience spellbound. The characters are lively and almost
exaggerated in their feelings and mistakes; they are true members
of the opera world.
Among the most noteworthy singers in the production were senior Scott
Skiba (Nick Shadow), junior Melanie Besner (Baba the Turk), and senior
Scott Mello (Tom Rakewell).
Skiba managed to handle the difficult part of Nick Shadow with seeming
ease, charming the audience from the start with his wit and charisma
in the part and then destroying this image with the power and terror
of his graveyard arias. He played both sides of the Devils character
wonderfully to create a character that was horrifying yet still somehow
a gentleman.
Besner also took her part to the limit as the show-stopping and extravagant
Baba the Turk. Her beautiful soprano voice filled Hall Auditorium
with its gorgeous tones and her presence on the stage was felt by
all.
Perhaps the most commendable performance of the evening, however,
was made by Mello as the main character, Tom Rakewell. In the space
of a few hours he was the eager lover, the foolish rake, the disillusioned
boy, the despairing sinner and the pitiful lunatic, portraying each
role with conviction. All his various character moods were inspired
and touching and he held the audience in his sway with the power of
his voice, which easily handled every note of his parts.
Although the opera began somewhat shakily with the audience straining
to catch the words over the sound of the orchestra, when the time
came for junior Sarah Stankiewiez (Anne Trulove) to close the first
act with her first aria, the cast was securely established in their
roles and sounded confident and well-trained. The cast warmed up the
second and third acts, which went without a hitch.
The opera required 10 scene changes in three acts: from the clock
with its falling numbers, to the suspended windows of Toms home,
to the grave dug by Nick Shadow, the set was a masterpiece.
Some of the most comic and tragic moods of the opera were captured
by the 12 students in the chorus, who played everything from the whores
in Mother Gooses brothel to citizens of London, eager to buy
Rakewells furniture, to wives, to the doctors in Bedlam (the
town where Rakewell finally dies). The Rakes Progress will be
performed all weekend at Hall Auditorium. Friday and Saturday, March
16 and 17, performances will be given at 8 p.m., and Sunday, March
18, a matinee performance will be given at 2 p.m.
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