Wednesday, April 22, 2009

"MASS"

Theatre review
"MASS" at Cornell's Schwartz Center
Ithaca Times
March 11, 2009
641 words
"Theatrical Synergy"

full text here

Theatrical Synergy

Mark Tedeschi

"MASS," music by Leonard Bernstein, text from the liturgy of the Roman Mass, with additional texts by Stephen Schwartz and Leonard Bernstein. Directed by David Feldshuh, musical direction by Scott Tucker. Starring Dominic Inferrera and featuring over 100 performers from Cornell and the Ithaca area. With projection design by Marilyn Rivchin, choreography by Joyce Morgenroth and Christine Olivier, scenic design by Ken Goetz, costume design by Sarah E. Bernstein, lighting design by E.D. Intemann and Ford Sellers, and sound design by Warren Cross.

When Leonard Bernstein's "MASS" premiered in 1971, it carried the subtitle "A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers." It was clear, with such a decisive title, that the ambitious piece should be finely calibrated in performance. Despite the demanding properties of "MASS," Cornell University's Department of Theatre, Film, & Dance - in collaboration with the Department of Music - has designed a full-throttle production rife with unique and credible artistic supplements.

Leonard Bernstein was a prolific, multitalented composer and musician who conceived of "MASS" by a commission from Jackie Kennedy for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The structure of "MASS" mimics that of the preeminent Roman Catholic liturgy at the time and contains some modern critical commentaries on faith and piety. Naturally, divisive reception accompanied its premiere.

Because of its technical arduousness and controversial reputation, "MASS" is not often produced fully staged. Yet Director David Feldshuh and musical director Scott Tucker produced a 90-minute piece that embraces Bernstein's complicated style in its calculated staging and striking visual design.

Fundamentally, "MASS" is a musical work. Bernstein composed its music using the text from the liturgy of the Roman Mass, presumably to capture the emotional resonance it has on its practitioners; delivered by an 80-plus-membered "Liturgical Chorus," the Latin portions' aural impact reverberates through the Schwartz Center's Kiplinger Theatre. In the pit, blues, rock and jazz instruments cooperate with a more standard orchestral setup, and together they bob and weave through precise changes in rhythmic motifs and myriad musical styles.

At the center, though, stands professional opera singer Dominic Inferrera as the central man of cloth, known only as the Celebrant. He drives the Mass onward, his control of diction and dynamics enabling his voice to sustain clarity even buried under the boom of the Liturgical Chorus and the protesting cries of the smaller, more contemporary-sounding Street Chorus.

The former, comprised of members of the Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club, wear black cloaks and stand mostly motionless onstage throughout, while the latter cycles through soloists to represent varied degrees of contentedness in the state of faith. The Street Chorus soloists pounce on their interlude portions, as do the eight members of the Children's Choir (borrowed from the Choraliers of the Ithaca Children's Choir and under the direction of Jennifer Haywood). But the lack of differentiation amongst group members even in the show's program reinforces the thematic focus of shared experience over dissociation.

The foregrounded characters are, however, obviously differentiable in their clothing, as designed by Sarah E. Bernstein. The Celebrant wears all black, while the Street Chorus don emblematic costumes from firefighter to bum.

Joyce Morgenroth's and Christine Olivier's choreography tangoes with Kent Goetz's scenic design. The details are minimal, but the dimensions metamorphose as "MASS" progresses. Giant head puppeteering and rainbow-ribbon dancing are just two highlights of the Alice-in-Wonderland chaos in the early portion of the show; later, when the Liturgical Choir occupies the risers, the lighting design plays a large part in defining the stage space.

With enveloping blues and brazen magentas, E.D. Intemann's lighting flashes and glows at the Celebrant's journey, synchronizing the state of his spiritual trek with the look of his surrounding environment. Sparkles and flares from deep onstage silhouette a population of crosses against a retractable, full-length projection screen, a neat trick that reflects the creative attention paid to the video design overhead.

On three large screens above the stage, filmmaking lecturer Marilyn Rivchin's projection design plays in snyc with the goings-on below. Her contribution usually involves either shots of devotional European paintings or investigation of the words being sung, through English translations of the Latin texts - a different typeface for every portion - or a kinetic typography excursion.

The eventual resolution feels cyclically predictable, and the symbolism periodically too hasty to catch, but Bernstein's vision remains intact, and "MASS" is a work of both bold religious inquiry as well as bold theatrical synergy.


Members of the cast of ‘MASS,’ at Cornell’s Schwartz Center. (Photo provided)

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