Basement Hades: Songs of the Underworld
Through March 24 at the Yale Cabaret, 217 Park St., New Haven. (203) 432-1566, www.yalecabaret.org.
Created by the ensemble. Text by Justin A. Taylor. Original music by Daniel Schlosberg. Directed by Ethan Heard. Set design by Edward T. Morris. Costume & puppet designer: Martin Schnellinger. Lighting co-designers: Masha Tsimiring and Yi Zhao. Sound designer: Palmer. Associate sound designer: Keri Klick. Projection designer: Hannah Wasileski. Assistant Projection Designers: Michael Bergmann, Nick Hussong, Paul Lieber. Electronic Granulation Effects: William Gardiner. Technical Director: Jacquelin Deniz Yong. Producer: Kate Ivins. Stage ManagerL Gina Odierno. Performed by Dustin Wills (King Hades/Queen Persephone), Anne Lanzilotti (Orpheus/Violin), Michael Compitello (Orpheus/Percussion), Daniel Schlosberg (Orpheus/Keyboard), Hannah Collins (Orpheus/Cello), Katie McGerr (Eurydice).
It’s a hot time in the Yale Cabaret. Having rushed there for the 11 p.m. Friday show in suit and tie from the oft-stultifying Jefferson Jackson Bailey dinner in Hartford, I struggled to keep awake during this intentionally lulling and drifting dreamscape of the netherworld.
My drowsiness is my own problem, not the show’s. Dustin Wills is a peppy interlocutor, narrating the story of Orpheus and Eurydice (a popular legend these days) with a raspy, sassy voice. He’s King Hades himself, interrupted occasionally by a handpuppet Persephone. Hades’ orations lead directly into swirling Saint-Saensesque demonic chamber works composed by Dan Schlosberg, a well-regarded recent Yale grad and current Yale School of Music students who always seems up for a fresh challenge. The musical quartet, which includes Schlosberg on keyboards and ranges from cello solos by Hannah Collins to extraordinary incurstions of vibraphone from percussionist Michael Compitello, goes under the collective name New Morse Code. Given the Orpheus subject matter, it’s more like Remorse Code.
The music is the main attraction, smooth and jazzy and dark with cello, and rather at odds with Wills’ abrasive vocal delivery. Some is original, some riffs on established underworld compositions by Gluck, Shostakovichm Phiilip Glass and Marin Marais. The mood remains remarkably consistent considering the disparate texts and tunes being juggled here.
Overall, what strikes you is that this is that rare bird, an actual cabaret entertainment in the Yale Cabaret. Wills is not far from Joel Grey’s Cabaret master of ceremonies, the New Morse Code musicians (with vocalist Annie Rosen) not far from torch song setters. Elaborate special effects—projections, sound effects—don’t disguise that this is a glorified club-concert piece. It’s an interesting respite from the overly theatricized Cabaret offerings of late, and a welcome introduction to a scarily early spring.
I thought this production was wonderful — entertaining, beautiful and often very moving.
I was also very impressed with director Ethan Heard’s “Julius Caesar” last month — part of the YSD studio series. I hope to see (much) more of his work.
“My life has been in the toilet,Michael Kors,” Frazier said after his talk. “It’s been hard to hold a job. You would not believe how many people will think I had something to do with the assassination.”