{"id":23325,"date":"2025-02-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/review-new-wine-in-old-bottles\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T18:00:00","slug":"review-new-wine-in-old-bottles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/review-new-wine-in-old-bottles\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: New wine in old bottles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Composer-presenter
Composer-presenter Bill Barclay addresses the audience at the world premiere of \u201cWhat Music Is\u201d at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College on Feb. 22. (Courtesy of Peyton Rukowski Films)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Last weekend, Durango audiences were invited to two sparkling performances, hence the title: new wine in old bottles.<\/p>\n

San Juan Symphony presented its third concert of the 39th season in Durango and Farmington. Conductor Thomas Heuser and company merely asked then colorfully answered the question: What is Music? Fort Lewis College staged a modern adaptation of an 18th-century farce: Carlo Goldoni\u2019s \u201cThe Servant of Two Masters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both productions brought a fresh perspective to conventional ways of doing things.<\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

WHAT:<\/strong> Fort Lewis College \u201cThe Servant of Two Masters,\u201d by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Virginia Scott.<\/p>\n

WHEN: <\/strong>7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, March 1.<\/p>\n

WHERE: <\/strong>MainStage Theatre, Drama Building, FLC, 1000 Rim Drive.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: <\/strong>Adults $28; FLC faculty and staff $15; non-FLC students $15; free to FLC students. Available at www.durangoconcerts.com<\/a>. Plenty of free parking.<\/p>\n

MORE INFORMATION: <\/strong>Visit www.fortlewis.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If you love the old stuff, great works of music by Beethoven, Debussy and Elgar \u2013 or zany comedies with predictable characters and silly plots, you would not have been disappointed.<\/p>\n

San Juan Symphony<\/div>\n

In what can only be called a high-voltage, creative partnership, Heuser and former college friend Bill Barclay have cooked up a fresh approach to orchestral programming. Barclay, director of Concert Theatre Works in New York City, has mounted 20 other collaborative productions and now adds \u201cWhat Music Is\u201d to an illustrious roster.<\/p>\n

February\u2019s world premiere with the San Juan Symphony was an audience-friendly exploration of science and art. The new form merges storytelling with concert fare. Barclay\u2019s amiable, favorite-uncle style managed to deliver the connections between music and physics, math and astronomy with easy warmth. His occasional asides brought humor into the equation, and inviting the audience to sing Happy Birthday to Bill, himself, illustrated a point about synchronicity and added fun to the friendly, family-table atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Barclay, Heuser and the orchestra eased into the \u201cscript\u201d with a meaningful silence before a beautiful rendition of Debussy\u2019s \u201cAfternoon of a Faune.\u201d Thereafter, Barclay unspooled his thesis: Music and science have a deep and universal connection, illuminated by performances of works by Elgar, Prokofiev, a bit of Beethoven, and contemporary pieces by Holst, Saariaho and Montgomery.<\/p>\n

Afterward, the audience buzzed about the program and the innovative concept. I have it on good authority that Barclay got the science right. Among others, two friends who are scientists, biology and astronomy, said Barclay got the science right. Music lovers said Heuser and company got the music right.<\/p>\n

\"Evelyn
Evelyn Kelley plays Clarice and Calvin Marshall is Silvio in Fort Lewis College\u2019s production of \u201cThe Servant of Two Masters.\u201d (Courtesy of Jonas Grushkin for FLC Performing Arts)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
FLC Performing Arts<\/div>\n

\u201cThe Servant of Two Masters,\u201d by Carlo Goldoni, Italy\u2019s most prolific playwright in the 18th century. It is but one of 150 works that defined the commedia dell\u2019arte tradition. Goldoni also wrote 110 dramatic works plus 80 opera librettos. \u201cServant\u201d features stock characters who are all engulfed in self-interest and the layered classes of Venetian society. To illuminate the multiple plot lines, Goldoni used simple exposition, so there\u2019s a lot of who, what, where and what happened in the storytelling.<\/p>\n

Visiting Director Virginia Scott adapted Goldoni\u2019s 1745 script for a modern audience. She\u2019s packed the telling with current references like Jonathan Bailey and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, not to mention songs: \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Me Now.\u201d Mix in a crumble of Verdi\u2019s \u201cDies Irae,\u201d and you get the drift of this fast-moving, madcap style.<\/p>\n

Scott keeps her big cast moving fast supported by a crackerjack technical crew, headed by Jeff Widen and company. The set is divided into a platform with a mini stage and a smaller band area with Foley props. Various cast members operate noisemakers, slap sticks, blocks, and play a keyboard and an acoustic guitar, music director Calvin Marshall\u2019s territory as he adroitly plays the lovesick Silvio.<\/p>\n

Katelyn Bowie (Truffaldino) energetically enacts the smarty-pants Figaro character. Always on the run, he must obey two aristocratic masters: Beatrice\/Federigo (a cool Katie Bos) and Florindo (a dandified Damon Dickey). Evelyn Kelley enlivens drama queen Clarice with hilarious pink-hoop-dress meltdowns. Megan Sander\u2019s costume crew outdo themselves with a pastiche of 18th- and 21st-century threads.<\/p>\n

\"Katelyn
Katelyn Bowie is Truffaldino in Fort Lewis College\u2019s production of \u201cThe Servant of Two Masters.\u201d (Courtesy of Jonas Grushkin for FLC Performing Arts)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The 11-member cast zips about the stage, disappearing and returning with breathtaking energy. Improvised bits interrupt and may go awry. Last Sunday, a metallic, Madonna-inspired bra went amiss in a clothesline routine. But basic, direct-address exposition dominates \u2013 intermingled with songs and dancing. In short, it\u2019s a romp.<\/p>\n

The masks present problems with vocal production, so this visually charming play has its auditory problems. Would that the Foley table microphone could have been used by all.<\/p>\n

The comedy runs through Saturday. Students attend for free \u2013 good call. But the college charges $28 general admission. Senior tickets of $15 have disappeared. That may be why the Sunday matinee was only one-third full. Please reconsider.<\/p>\n

New wine in old bottles<\/div>\n

Reviving and repackaging familiar works \u2013 new wine in old bottles \u2013 is part of a larger trend in the arts. Great works from the past live on for a reason \u2013 rock solid style and content. In today\u2019s world of performing arts, classic works and forms of presentation are undergoing a renaissance. Durango\u2019s stages are part of that important cultural change.<\/p>\n

Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

College, San Juan Symphony challenge audiences to think again<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1060,132,28,559,1885,910],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines","tag-music","tag-san-juan-symphony-orchestra","tag-theatre"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23325"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}