[Advertisement]

[Advertisement]

[Advertisement]

Handel's Messiah Rocks - Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College

    Reviewed by David Hurst

    A one-night only performance filmed for later airing as a PBS special, Handel's Messiah Rocks - A Joyful Noise took the stage at the beautifully restored Majestic Theatre at Emerson College on Sunday night, September 21. Adapted from George Frederic Handel and Charles Jennens 1741 oratorio by Jason Howland (music) and Dani Davis (libretto), Messiah Rocks featured Keith Lockhart and members of the Boston Pops, along with Broadway stars LaChanze (The Color Purple) and J. Robert Spencer (Nick Massi in the original Jersey Boys) along with MigG Ayesa (currently staring in the West End's Queen: A Rock and Symphonic Spectacular). Additionally, the University Choir at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell provided choral support.

    Unfortunately, the minute the Pops struck up the "Overture" of Howland's 'rock adaptation,' I knew I was in for along night...and the show was only an hour. Filled with bombastic orchestral flourishes amidst wailing electric guitars, this is the sort of Messiah-lite that devotees of similar type crossover music will undoubtedly enjoy, but is not my cup of tea. Sitting in the front of the mezzanine the vocalists were all but inaudible over the orchestra, as if someone purposefully didn't turn up the amplification on their body microphones because it was a television taping. But perhaps that was a blessing in disguise considering how abhorrent the results were.

    MigG Ayesa, an Australian performer I'm unfamiliar with not having watched Rockstar: INXS on which he was a finalist, sang The Tenor and blew his voice out on his first song, "Comfort Ye." This meant that for the rest of the concert he was reaching for notes he didn't have and trying to navigate them in his head voice instead. Sadly, it was an embarrassing spectacle and every time he took to the stage for the rest of the night I cringed in anticipation of what was to come. Bobby Spencer as The Baritone and LaChanze as The Woman acquitted themselves somewhat better but they too ended up doing a lot of screaming, perhaps in attempt to sing over the churning orchestral din led by Lockhart in a pair of black-leather pants that perhaps fit him twenty pounds ago but did nothing to lend him rock-n-roll credibility that night. The one saving grace of the evening, amidst a lot of televised projections and psychedelic video, was the incredible electric guitar playing of either Thad Debrock or Marc Copely; it's impossible to tell from the program which one played lead.

    In hindsight, I'm not sure how PBS will ever air Messiah Rocks without substantial dubbing of the vocals in post-production. Howland and Davis, the latter of whom also directed the evening, are the husband and wife couple that also gave us Little Women: The Musical. I'm sure they meant well but let's hope they leave the rest of the classical music canon in peace and quiet.

    For the past six years, David Hurst has been the resident Theatre Critic for NEXT Magazine. Prior to that he was the Cabaret and CD Critic for Show Business Weekly. He has written for Opera News, is a regular contributor to Cabaret Scenes and is a member of the New York Drama Desk and Drama League.

  • Wednesday, October 1, 2008 | Link to this feature


    • Archive of Guest Writers

[Advertisement]

[Advertisement]