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‘Séance on a Wet Afternoon’: What They Did for Love
Séance on a Wet Afternoon, with music and libretto by Stephen Schwartz of Wicked fame, opened Opera Santa Barbara’s 2009-2010 season in a world premiere Saturday night at The Granada.
This production, also playing at The Granada on Friday and Sunday this weekend, is clearly a coup for the opera company. It opened to a full house Saturday and looks to be a success for the remainder of its brief run. Schwartz clearly knows what sells. Wicked was a hit on Broadway and in Los Angeles, and it followed the solid successes of Godspell and Pippin.
Furthermore, the cast and the production values were exemplary. The set was an aesthetic and mechanical marvel. All honor to scenic designer Heidi Ettinger, lighting designer David Lander and costume designer Alejo Vietti; they evoked the 1960s San Francisco ambience very well.
Opera Santa Barbara commissioned this reworking of a 1964 British film that starred Kim Stanley and Richard Attenborough and was favorably reviewed by critics in its homeland and in the United States at the time. The film was an adaptation by Bryan Forbes of a novel by Mark McShane. The commission of this opera was sponsored by Rich and Luci Janssen.
With all the labor, financial expenditure and loving artistic care, it would be nice to report that Séance makes for a meaty operatic evening. Unfortunately, it does not. Opera exists in its own lavish world. Séance featured operatic voices, but it lacked operatic content.
The story concerns a loony woman medium who is convinced of her great psychic powers, her loving and emotionally enabling husband, the kidnapping of a little girl and the anguish of her parents in trying to find her. This is truly the stuff of tragedy, but the work as written fails to rise to those heights.
Soprano Lauren Flanigan is Myra Foster, the medium, who is so hateful it’s difficult to believe anyone would put up with her in the first place. Baritone Kim Josephson makes a vivid impact as her husband, Billy, who loves her too much to say no to her. It is a basic failure of the story that he would placate her, because he is a relatively strong and decent person.
The child’s parents are portrayed very effectively by soprano Hila Plitmann and tenor John Kimberling, two good-looking young singers who bring a touching pathos to their roles. The police inspector working to find the child is strong and believable, as performed by baritone Craig Hart.
Special mention must go to the two children in the cast, Kelsey Lee Smith as the kidnapped little girl, Adriana, and Aaron Refvem, playing Arthur, the entirely imaginary son of the nutty medium. Both youngsters have fine singing voices and their acting was excellent. Both also brought a touch of grace to a story that certainly needed it. Child-stealing is a touchy subject. Watching grownups behave either stupidly or malevolently while the fate of a child hangs in the balance may not necessarily be the best way to spend an evening at the theater.
— Margo Kline covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor.
c» wrote on 09.28.09 @ 05:55 PM
This production was offensive. Murder of a child on stage: Wrong on every level.
» wrote on 10.03.09 @ 02:54 PM
My advice? In short, see it! Acting and singing was top notch and hundreds of students attending exploded in applause at the end. So moving was the appreciation that the lead, Lauren Flanigan, was moved to tears. So appreciative were the students that the actors felt like rock stars walking around Santa Barbara, and both “Myra” and “Billy” (Kim Josephson) were set to visit San Marcos High if not for the unfortunate lock down. Everyone associated with this production has been very giving during the run of this show, and they deserve our support and admiration. Bottom line, great performances by talented world class professionals… just see it!
» wrote on 10.06.09 @ 05:58 PM
There are very good messages in the production in that “One Little Lie” aria bears out that it is obvious that lying leads to dire results. Maybe our politicians should watch this opera and take heed. Also, the “ending” shows that you pay for your sins eventually. What’s offensive is real life that doesn’t carry these right and wrong messages. The media is guilty of this in newspapers, television, radio, and movies. This production actually paints a clear picture of a constant reminder, “Stop, Myra, stop!” These were fictional characters…...the atrocities in real life aren’t.
» wrote on 10.06.09 @ 09:55 PM
A quick followup… Lauren Flanigan (“Myra”) made good on her offer to come to San Marcos High and spent a lunch period with the kids. There was a groan through the crowd when Lauren told the students that many in the cast were going to come along to the school the day of the lock down.
Talent, class, and heart describes everyone involved in this production including Mr. Schwartz himself. Stephen spent a Saturday morning with the kids of the Granada Music & Arts Conservatory and Showstoppers Theater Productions’ actors from this last summer’s “Les Miserables” (an exceptional show!).
Thank you to everyone who made “Seance On A Wet Afternoon” possible, and we all should support “Opera Santa Barbara” for enriching our community in the process!
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Gerald Carpenter: UCSB Musicians to Deliver ‘Valentine Serenade’
Faculty and students will present a special 'Hearts for the Arts' benefit performance on Saturday
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