TOURING AMERICAN OPERA
ENCOMPASS MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
2001 Second Production
ONLY HEAVEN
Music by Ricky Ian Gordon Poetry by Langston Hughes
Conceived by Ricky Ian Gordon and Nancy Rhodes
Direction/Musical Staging by Nancy Rhodes
Music Director/Conductor: Charles Prince, 2001
View Encompass 1995 World Premiere of Only Heaven
Ricky Ian Gordon and Nancy Rhodes with a painting of Langston Hughes
“Under the musical direction of Charles Prince [and Mitchell Cirker, assistant music director], ...a quartet of singers give the best sung musical performance to be heard this theatre season.” - Victor Gluck, BackStage
"...four first-rate singers robustly fill Gordon's rich harmonies..." - Village Voice
2001 Cast
Sherry Boone
Keith Byron Kirk
Michael Lofton
Monique McDonald
Karla Simmons (understudy)
Dancers:
Whitney V. Hunter
Monique Rhodriguez
Choreographer: Fran Kirmser
Sets: Erik Ulfers
Costumes: Marianne Powell-Parker
Lighting: Chenault Spence
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Musicians (2001): Mitchell Cirker: Piano, Mark Wade: Bass, Alex Kadvan: Cello,
Richard Cohen: Reeds, Brian Lang and Alexandra Honigsberg: Viola.
Some of the songs were commissioned by Harolyn Blackwell and included in her CD, "Strange Hurt."
EXCERPTS FROM THE 1995 WORLD PREMIERE
Review by Victor Gluck, BackStage, 2 February 2001
Ricky Ian Gordon’s “Only Heaven” is neither a musical nor an opera. He himself has called it a cantata. Whatever this 90-minute through-composed setting of lyrics by poet Langston Hughes is called, it is an extraordinary performance that—because of its unique form—will be caviar to the general.
Encompass New Opera Theatre first presented “Only Heaven” in 1995. The current, expanded version contains several new songs and an additional character. Conceived by the composer and director Nancy Rhodes to a scenario by Rhodes, “Only Heaven” is a setting of 27 poems by Hughes, taken from the 1920s and ’30s, grouped by theme: joy, love, heartache, suffering, etc. The current production divides the material between four singers and two dancers.
Under the musical direction of Charles Prince, conducting a chamber orchestra, a quartet of singers give the best sung musical performance to be heard this theatre season. Most outstanding are soprano Monique McDonald and baritone Michael Lofton, who bring a heartbreaking emotional depth to their numbers. Soprano Sherry Boone and tenor Keith Byron Kirk add a lighter side to their equally heartfelt songs. Seen only briefly, Whitney V. Hunter and Monique Rhodriquez dance Fran Kirmser’s beautiful choreography inspired by Agnes De Mille, Antony Tudor, and Alvin Ailey.
Rhodes’ direction does not give the material a plot, but it does give the work a shape. If the intention is to capture the Harlem Renaissance, Erik Ulfers’ elegant setting, which resembles an upper class picnic in a wheat field, seems strangely at odds with the concept. However, the unobtrusive lighting by Chenault Spence always directs the eye to the focal point.
Gordon’s intricate, rousing score seems an advance over his musical, “Dream True,” last season. This is a timeless, moving musical evening. It should have a long life after this production.
