Handel’s Messiah itself is not a simple telling of the story of Christ’s birth. It’s vaster in scope, and it’s musically dense, varied and iconic.
Electric Messiah – on stage at Crow’s Theatre in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it run culminating in two Christmas Eve performances – multiplies this scope and density exponentially – with joyous results.
Quick history lesson: Handel composed his Messiah way back in 1741. When the oratorio was first performed in April 1742, it was Easter music. It then began a slow evolution into a Christmas concert hall staple and seasonal streaming superstar.
One of the most popular, well-known and frequently performed English language choral works, Messiah is opera-like – but its book, composed by Charles Jennens, eschews direct speech in the voice of characters. Instead, the work is an extended, meditative musical reflection on the life and meaning of Jesus. Its three parts are more easily understood in their broad strokes, than in the details of the biblical “deep cuts” stitched together in them.
The first (and most Christmas-relevant) part focuses on the birth of Jesus. The second, more Easter-themed part, centers Christ’s death and resurrection, and culminates in the famed Hallelujah chorus. The final part looks ahead to the day of judgment: the resurrection of the dead, and Christ’s glorification in heaven.
So Messiah is already bigger, more allusive and suggestive than the calendar moment to which it has been belatedly tethered. All of which makes it ripe for . . . electrification.
Enter Soundstreams, recognized for multidisciplinary thematic programming that explores significant issues through new music. Celebrating their 40th anniversary, they have brought their iconic Electric Messiah – never the same two years in a row, and this year featuring the world premiere of a new “interpolation” by composer Lieke van der Voort. – to Crow’sTheatre .
The show is electrifying in every sense of the word. And this starts at the back of the stage with the dazzling musicianship of Dafydd Hughes on electric organ and keyboard, Music Director and Sound Designer Adam Scime on electronics, Joel Schwartz (channeling Daniel Lanois) on guitar, and Weley Shen on harpsichord. The show opens in atmospheric electronic sounds, before the musicians conjure a seamless succession of styles ranging from classical opera (of course) to jazz, blues, hip-hop, gospel and global.
The musicians are dressed all in black, with a few elements of white and gold . . . which ties them to the singers at the front of the stage, who are the reverse: white and gold with elements of black. These diverse singers’ vocal work is also electric. Drawn from different genres, Lindsay McIntyre (Soprano), Elizabeth Shepherd (Mezzo), Andrew Adridge (Baritone), Sharang Sharma (Tenor) weave together their respective voices and genres in a seamless and singular succession.
The show’s two dancers – all in white and gold – are especially electric, as they by turns interrupt and integrate Messiah. Libidyo’s hip hop-infused Robot and popping are jaw-dropping. Indigenous dancer Sophie Dow’s fluid and acrobatic movement is mesmerizing. And the way this duo echo and answer one another’s movements is joyous. Together, they raise a fifth voice: a voice of the body joining this family of four singers – plus the musicians – on a continuum of collaborative artistry telling this universal, anthemic tale
Finally, Stage Director Rob Kempson delivers high wattage through the staging. Suspended mid-stage is a massive picture frame: in a sense, we hear the music and see the story through it. Its presence – and the use the performers make of it – remind us of how differently the Christ story sounds, depending on your frame of reference. As the show unfolds, the singers keep repositioning themselves in front of it, Family Feud-style. Their different groupings connote different personal and familial relationships, giving us different lenses through which to view the story. Interpolated audio clips and sounds further expand the story’s scope.
Likewise, two thin diaphanous screens hang to the left and right of the frame. At different moments, the flowing choreography hides individual dancers and singers behind the screens, where they wait, imperfectly visible, before re-entering visibility and audibility, and weaving themselves back into the unfolding story.
Electric Messiah is gorgeously diverse and hypnotically inclusive. It’s the sonic-kinetic story of the Messiah, now universalized as a redemptive, artistic and yes, electric energy. That energy is alive right here, right now on the Crow’s Theatre stage, in a microcosm of what’s happening right now in different corners and cultures of the globe.
Electric Messiah has come for too brief a time to illuminate the holiday season and inspire us beyond it. So don’t let the snow hold you back.
Like those biblical shepherds sung about in Part 1, come. Be curious. And prepare to be filled with wonderment.
Reserve tickets to ELECTRIC MESSIAH on crowstheatre.com
© Scott Sneddon, SesayArts Magazine, 2022
