PeoriaStory

Empire Wild and the HFO

WASHINGTON, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's April 15 concert at Five Points Washington was an interesting change of pace for the orchestra.

The youthful New York City trio Empire Wild played with the orchestra in most of the program, presenting an original fusion of classical and  jazz with rich sound.

Empire Wild was fine, and included a singer, some original pieces and arrangements, and even a bit of audience participation, hand clapping.

And the Illinois Central College Concert Choir presented "The Ecstasy of Gold" a choral piece from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The director, Julie Clemens, with a fabulous voice, was the soloist.

It was a lovely evening.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

 

Anastasia, the musical

PEORIA, IL -- The musical Anastasia played at the Peoria Civic Center Theater on April 11 and repeats on April 12. It's good though not great.

The story involves an imposter who attempts to pass as the Russian princess whose parents and siblings were killed during the 1917 Russian revolution.  The sets and scenes of this production are terrific, and I liked the music after listening to the original Broadway cast CD several times.

The weaknesses of the apparently non-Actors Equity cast included some timing mistakes, namely dialogue before applause had stopped, and lack of understandable dialogue in some scenes and songs.

As usual there were no printed programs, and the nonsensical security system of not allowing handbags continues.  No other venues in the area do either.

Still, the show is entertaining and worth seeing.

 --  Elaine Hopkins

Opera at the museum

PEORIA, IL -- A unique event at the Peoria Riverfront Museum on April 1 featured live opera performances.  It was lovely with a small but significant problem.

The event featured Nathan Gunn, curator of The Art of Opera featuring posters of opera and Broadway events from a huge collection given to the museum. The posters are fabulous, and a 'must see' at the museum.

Gunn is also an opera singer and professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana.  Along with his wife, Julie Jordan Gunn, a talented pianist, the couple directs the Lyric Theater @ Illinois.  Museum President and CEO John Morris called them "America's music power couple."

They brought five of their best opera students and put on a terrific show of popular favorites from the opera world. Pieces from Carmen,  The Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Die Fiedermaus, and even Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance and Trial by Jury  -- all were beautifully sung. 

But -- the show made a mistake. The singers were using microphones, and the performances were too loud. Opera singers have huge voices, and can fill an auditorium without microphones.

The show took place in the museum lobby, and while there was a large audience, mikes were definitely not needed there, and even slightly distorted the lovely voices.

In his program comments Morris promised more musical events at the museum. "We plan to integrate music, performance, literary, spoken word or other presentations to help engage audiences with the stories of the objects, collections, exhibitions and programs," he stated.

That's a fine idea. But for opera, forget the mikes.

 -- Elaine Hopkins