Bach Aria Soloists and KC Actors Theatre Present Visionary Performance
The recent collaborative performance of the Bach Aria Soloists (BAS) and the Kansas City Actors Theatre (KCAT) was anything but ordinary. Their joint production, presented on April 11 at Village Presbyterian Church and entitled “Our Favorite Things,” crossed artistic boundaries and produced an evening of performance gems.
Let’s face it—who doesn’t believe in artistic collaborations? What I expected from the outset was alternating offerings from each ensemble, but a much more visionary evening was in store. As KCAT director and stage manager Logan Black explained at the beginning of the evening, he spent many hours thinking about scenes and readings that would relate to the musical selections. BAS director and violinist Elizabeth Suh Lane confirmed that the program had been germinating for years.
The result was obvious from the opening number, Claudio Monteverdi’s “Si dolce è’l tormento” (“So sweet is the torment.”). The canzonetta was performed by all members of the BAS, with Suh Lane’s warm and mournful tone, Sascha Groschang’s rich timbre on cello and Elisa Williams Bickers tasteful harpsichord playing. Soprano Sarah Tannehill Anderson beautifully sang the text about the anguish of unrequited love.
While the music was being presented, KCAT actor R. H. Wilhoit performed a Butoh dance. This avant-garde Japanese style that first appeared in the 1960s featured stylized movements low to the ground and very expressive facial expressions. Wilhoit’s dance successfully corresponded to the suffering expressed in the lyrics.
One of the highlights of the evening was Tannehill Anderson’s stirring rendition of “Dido’s Lament,” a recitative and aria from Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, performed alongside cellist Groschang and Williams Bickers, this time on organ. KCAT followed with an emotionally charged scene from Christopher Marlowe’s play Dido, Queen of Carthage, featuring Erika Crane Ricketts as Dido, and Jordan Fox as her lover Aeneas. Both the staged scene and the aria examine Queen Dido’s response to the news that Aeneas is leaving her (as it happens, he eventually established the city of Rome in Virgil’s Aeneid). The actors were convincing and powerful in their depiction of the anger and raw emotion of the confrontation. The musical rendition was sumptuous, with beautiful clear vocal tone by Tannehill Anderson, and subtle but convincing musical choices. She employed light ornamentation and softer dynamics to the expressive textual repetition of “Remember me, but ah! Forget my fate.”
Another effective pairing began with Teisha M. Bankston’s dramatic reading of a section of George Meredith’s Victorian era poem “The Lark Ascending.” Bankston’s performance captured the beauty and quasi-spiritual nature of the text while walking up and down the church’s central aisle.
Violinist Suh Lane and organist Williams Bickers responded with Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “The Lark Ascending,” composed several decades after the Meredith poem. The violinist’s execution and intonation were impeccable, but it was her tone and expression that made the musical magic that evening.
Williams Bickers played piano for one of Erik Satie’s popular yet melancholic Gymnopédies with beauty and grace. During the performance, actors Jerry Mañan and R. H. Wilhoit played a touching improvised scene where they portrayed a couple, reacting in time to the music.
Another musical highpoint was the performance by Suh Lane and Groschang of Mark O’Connor’s “Appalachia Waltz.” The lovely and poignant and duet featured exquisite playing and perfect blend in a piece that captured the spirit of American folk fiddling.
One of the “laugh out loud” moments of the evening occurred during the brief “Cha-Cha” from Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. While Suh Lane, Williams Bickers and Groschang were playing, Tannehill Anderson, Fox and Wilhoit walked on and off simply to snap their fingers.
The performance ended with most of the BAS performers featured in a lovely version of “First Rehearse” from Four Shakespeare Songs by the marvelous British contemporary composer Cecilia McDowell. The text comes from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and KCAT reciprocated with all actors in a very funny scene from the Bard’s comic masterpiece.
One minor imperfection in the evening occurred due to the live acoustics and amplified sounds of the acting scenes: rapid dialogue among multiple actors at times was hard to understand. With that one quip aside, however, this was a very well designed and well executed program.
The evening also marked a poignant farewell, as soprano Sarah Tannehill Anderson, one of the region’s premiere vocalists, recently announced her departure from the Bach Aria Soloists. After the performance ended, Kurt Knecht played piano while Suh Lane and Williams Bickers sang a tribute to the melody of “My Favorite Things” with background singing by all members of KCAT.
For information on Kansas City Actors Theatre and their upcoming 22nd season, visit www.kcactors.org. The Bach Aria Soloists’ website is www.bachariasoloists.com.
