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| Kelly Kaduce, an Opera
Theatre-St. Louis standout for several seasons, gives one of her best
performances as the crazed Salome in the first ever OTSL production of
the Richard Strauss work. His music is outstanding and the cast delivers as
does the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Stephen
Lord. This long one-act opera is one of the bloodiest and most bizarre productions you'll ever see. Add a touch of nudity to the mix and you've got an opera you really don't want to bring the kids to. However, it's one of the most powerful and stunning things we've ever seen on the stage. The power of Kelly Kaduce has been with us over the years but this is truly a moment of shining glory for her. The difficult score is challenging enough but she goes through the infamous dance of the seven veils with sensuous movement that would have put the original Salome to shame. Her brief time in the altogether at the end of the dance is tastefully done but the bloody and macabre finale is almost too much to ask of any actress. She, however, is stunning. What a bravura performance. Her supporting cast is mainly strong throughout as well. Michael Hayes as Herod is a bit weak in the acting area but has a nice singing voice while Maria T. Zifchak is delightfully droll and Gregory Dahl, though not looking the part of an emaciated prisoner, sings the role of Jokannah with verve. Kudos, in fact, to the entire ensemble as this is a difficult piece in every respect but handled masterfully by cast and the technical crew as well. Director Sean Curran moves things along quite well and gives us an interesting and effective interpretation of the famous dance. Instead of being clothed with veils, Salome uses a series of multi-colored over-sized veils that lend an erotic theme to the dance. The glorious set design of Bruno Schwengl is somewhat diminished with his bizarre costume design. And the anachronistic touches including the Jews with glasses were a bit disconcerting. This is still one of the best things from Opera Theatre-St. Louis- which is saying a lot since they do such good work year after year. Salome combines a beautiful score, powerful performances and a harsh reality that stuns and delights at the same time. And do not miss the always wonderful Kelly Kaduce- she really knocks this one out of the park. Salome plays in repertory with three other operas through June 28th. This is Steve Allen with a look at theatre for Classic 99. |
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