Center
Stage with Pat Launer on KSDS JAZZ88
THEATRE REVIEW:
“Opus” – Old Globe Theatre
AIRDATE:
APRIL 3, 2009
“Opus” centers on a
string quartet, and it plays like a chamber ensemble piece: brisk, bright,
harmonious, collaborative and immensely satisfying.
The play begins, aptly
enough, with a tuneup. The ensuing performance is
fraught with emotional crescendos, concord and dissonance, superb synchrony and
a crashing, climactic finale.
The 2006 drama marks a
return to the early passion of violist-turned-playwright Michael Hollinger, who
creates a fictional Grammy Award-winning quartet of international renown. Their
violist has recently been canned, and now he’s disappeared. They’ve just added
a woman to the mix for the first time, and they only have five days to rehearse
Beethoven’s punishingly difficult “Opus 131,’ before a performance at the White
House, for a President none of them voted for.
In flashbacks, we get to
see them in their heyday, making a cocky documentary about their lives and
work, their wit and incredible synergy. But that was then. Now, Dorian is
missing, Elliot is cranky, Carl is sick and Alan is attracted to Grace, who’s
more than a little ambivalent and intimidated by the whole group. We watch the
painstaking rehearsal process, we observe how much a musical collective is like
a marriage, including, in this case, a sexual element.
It’s a thrilling peek
behind the curtain of a refined and urbane pursuit that’s seething with
colliding egos and personalities, conflict and power plays, relentless
attention to detail, striving for perfection, and coming unstrung, all in
service of the music. Within the multiple layers of character and plot, we
witness artists at work, and we’re shown the difference between technical
proficiency and visionary genius.
At the Old Globe, Kyle
Donnelly, head of the acting program at UC San Diego, is at the helm, bringing
enormous wit, warmth and energy to the production. She’s marshaled an
outstanding ensemble, whose well-timed, well-tuned performances are
pitch-perfect. From the acidic, autocratic first violinist to the emotionally
unstable but brilliant ex-violist and the mousy, but eager new one; from the schleppy, quippy second violinist
to the seemingly placid, peacemaking cellist, all the tonal nuances are there –
for a fine quartet and a compelling drama.
And then, of course,
there’s the music, all pre-recorded by a real string quartet, but the way the
players mime the use of their instruments and discuss the shading
and gradations of the compositions, we almost believe they’re making those
beautiful sounds, touching our hearts with Bach, Beethoven and Bartok. The
clever dialogue is a series of duets, trios and contrapuntal interactions.
“Opus,” an ingenious study in both musical and group dynamics, is given a
stunning, riveting performance.
If you have an ear for
music or an eye for terrific theater, this is one show that will satisfy all
your senses.
The
Old Globe production of “Opus” runs
through April 26 in the auditorium of the San Diego Museum of Art in
©2009 PAT LAUNER