Lyric Opera Cleveland @ Drury Theatre 7/20 Edgar Allan Poe’s masterpiece The Fall of the House of Usher has produced spine-tingling chills in readers—or listeners—for more than 150 years. The chamber opera version with music by Philip Glass is still a teen-ager, having been written in 1988. Lyric Opera Cleveland gave the chamber opera its first Ohio professional production for the final work of the 2005 season. It was an engrossing and enthralling presentation, made spooky and ghostly by the ever-present scrim and eerie lighting effects.

Director Jonathon Field and Conductor Mary Chun established a fairly brisk pace, and for the most part, the ten total scene changes took place rather quickly, if not quietly, at least on opening night. The casting was excellent, including understudy Michael Gentile who took the part of Roderick after a scheduling problem kept the originally announced tenor from appearing. His sister Madeline was given lavish presence by Andrea Chenoweth, who floated from here to there, oblivious to the other happenings on stage, and giving beautiful voice to her wordless melodies. Baritone Stephen Hartley was a steady presence, trying to maintain his equilibrium in the unsteady situation in which he found himself.

Set design by Scott Knowles and costumes by S. Q. Campbell established the time and place of the events portrayed by the words and music. And while the opera’s music is written in the minimalist style, there were melodies and lyrical episodes accompanied by the frequent chugging rhythms. The two smaller roles—the servant, sung by Robert Taylor, and physician by Nicholas Edwin—were well done, as well. The orchestra’s percussionist, Mel Csicsila, was almost another character, so important were his many contributions.

Surtitles made the lyrics completely understandable. Some of the special effects worked better than others: the projections of Madeline on the scrim were terrific, but the neon stripes on the guitar and around one doorway were mostly confusing.

The Fall of the House of Usher is a sad and unhappy tale, to be sure. This production, however, was anything but. I’m quite certain the original author and the composer and his lyricist Arthur Yorinks would have been quite pleased had any of them happened to be in the theatre to see it for themselves.

Lyric Opera Cleveland’s final effort for this year will be this evening (July 27) when they present their Apprentice Showcase. For tickets or other information about next season, visit their web-site: http://www.lyricoperacleveland.org
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz ArtsWriter@Adelphia.net (:divend:)