Rob Scherzer directing rehearsal (courtesy Inverse Opera) |
Handel’s Messiah
Inverse Opera (at Taproot Theatre)
December 5-20, 2014
Inverse Opera has been performing in performance venues and
bars for a few years now, introducing non-opera folks to a more intimate
experience of operatic voices. Last year, Rob Scherzer took on the task of
directing a kind of “pocket” version of what people usually think of as a grand
(read “large”) piece of holiday music, Handel’s Messiah.
This is their second year doing this in an intimate,
12-performer version, which they will perform in street clothes, in a sort of “casual”
atmosphere at Taproot’s black box theatre. However, Rob doesn’t want you to
think that shrinking the cast or the musicians (from at least 18, often, if not
a whole symphony, down to just one
pianist!!!) means that the quality of the production is cut-rate in any way. “This
production is rife with Seattle’s top musical talents. It’s an interesting
distinction, where some folks are from a purely operatic background and some
from a purely theatrical (musical theater) discipline and are top talents in
each area.”