THE BALLAD OF bABY dOE
Central City Opera production hits jackpot with Horace No. 4
Our Rating A
Genre: Opera
ShowTime: Continues in repertory through Aug. 6
Location: Central City Opera House
Price: $22 to $122
Ticket Info: 303-292-6700
By Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News
July 24, 2006
CENTRAL CITY - Here's a future opera trivia question: Name the four Horace Tabors in the 2006 Central City Opera production of Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe.
Wholesale substitutions resulted from a throat ailment that finally forced Jake Gardner (Horace No. 1) to leave the show - but only after being replaced opening night by Timothy Noble (No. 2) and, after a brief run, by apprentice artist Jason Richard Plourde (No. 3), who subbed for 1 1/2 performances.
All this may seem to suggest a stretch of bad luck for the company - but, as we saw on Saturday, it led to an all-time lucky break for Central City Opera and its audiences.
Enter Horace No. 4: Robert Orth.
A frequent visitor to the Opera House in Central City, the renowned baritone stepped in with barely a week to prepare. We've come to expect superb vocal and dramatic work from this marvelous singing actor, but this was special. His energy simply lit up the theater.
The baritone created a captivating character who was equal parts Horace, Orth and Everyman - a captivating figure of great depth.
As this heart-breaking story unfolded, Orth's Tabor aged in stunning fashion (his final appearance was a shocker). Yet the portrayal remained appropriately consistent: A man of tragic, unfailing pride.
That last scene was extraordinary. What had previously been a tiresome pastiche, on Saturday proved devastating - enhanced by those grimaces of sharp chest pains. Orth's emotional range was enormous, his interactions with the apparitions behind the scrim believable and touching. Unforgettable.
No surprise that the cast seemed energized on Saturday. Joyce Castle's Augusta emerged even more intense, the chemistry with Orth palpable (they had sung the work together recently in Indianapolis). Joanna Mongiardo's Baby Doe was as exquisite and intriguing as ever.
The quartet of Horace Tabors may make for a great trivia question - but there is nothing trivial about this production. Not with the force of nature that is Robert Orth. By the way, he'll sing the title role in Opera Colorado's Nixon in China in 2008. What a treat that should be.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
NIXON IN CHINA
"Driven by baritone Robert Orth's sensational portrayal of Richard Nixon, the St. Louis production revels in the intimate, deeply human side of Nixon.Orth delivers an almost frightfully detailed portrayal. The baritone has the gestures and tics down.Orth sings lyrically and passionately. He makes Nixon likable in this definitive musical portrayal."
Houston Chronicle
"The supremely talented Robert Orth captured Nixon's high-strung, self-satisfied character with beautiful command of the physical and poetic language of the role, as Nixon struggled to find points of contact with the impenetrable Asians"
Opera News
“The superb Robert Orth, a very human Nixon.”
The Wall Street Journal
The cast could hardly be improved upon. Orth had Nixon's forced smile and hunched-shoulder posture down pat — so to speak — and he sang and acted splendidly.
The Chicago Tribune
"Baritone Robert Orth's Nixon was complex and sympathetic. There was no hint of caricature in his portrayal."
The Financial Times
"Robert Orth's Nixon validated St. Louis's all-English-language policy with singing that began with words, and used music to give them life."
The New York Times
"Muscular-voiced Robert Orth had neatly mastered Nixon's jowly declamation."
The Kansas City Star
"Nixon's the one in baritone Robert Orth's clear-voiced and likable interpretation."
St. Louis Post Dispatch
"...Robert Orth's glowingly nerdish Nixon. Orth artfully balances Tricky Dick's ungainliness and physical eccentricities against his seriousness of purpose and concern for the practical work he hopes to accomplish. His singing (characterized on his Web site as "the best baritone in his price range") is crisp and to the point."
The Riverfront Times
"Your flight was smooth, I hope?'' became an insightful character study, thanks to Orth's zesty self-confidence as Nixon and Yuan's impenetrably urbane Chou. Orth's body language--the folded arms, the rocking on his heels, the cocky, uplifted chin--evoked the former president without a hint of caricature. In the extended aria, "News has a kind of mystery,'' Orth was gripping as a savvy Nixon well aware of his place in history Using all the resources of his rich, flexible baritone, he hammered away at Adams' repetitious phrases, repeating the words as if Nixon's brilliant mind could barely contain his myriad thoughts.
The Chicago Sun Times
"Robert Orth's portrayal of Nixon is stunning in its perfection – the body language, the head movements, the attitude are so on-target as to be chilling. At times, I thought I was seeing the former president, and it was a little frightening."
KWMU
"Baritone Robert Orth has put his stamp firmly on the title role; a carefully crafted performance like his doesn’t come along too often. He may not look much like Nixon, but he inhabited the character so completely, singing and acting so compellingly, that we forgot that minor detail."
St. Louis Post Dispatch
CARMINA BURANA
“Best of the soloists was Orth, the ever-reliable Chicago baritone who penetrated the texts with deep musicality and expressive involvement--’Estuans interius’ burned with dramatic intensity.”
Chicago Tribune, March 4, 2002
CANDIDE
“The other principals in the cast expertly interpreted two or more roles, making versatility look like second nature. But the evening belonged to Robert Orth, who gave a tour de force performance as a declamatory Voltaire, a slippery Pangloss, a trustworthy Cacambo, and a cantankerous Martin. It was fascinating to watch Orth as he cast aside Pangloss’s academic garb, donned a serape, and changed his accent, gait and mannerisms to become instantly a believable Cacambo.”
Opera (U.K.), November 2002
“Robert Orth set the tone of the evening with a wickedly pompous Dr. Pangloss, the philosopher who argues that because this is the only world, it follows that this is the best of all possible worlds. He was the best of all possible mimics, too, donning accents and props with lightning speed. For a final trick, he brought a splendid growl to Martin's guttural aria.”
Opera News, September 2002
DEAD MAN WALKING
“Robert Orth, as the tortured father of the slain girl, gives a brilliant performance.”
Star-Ledger (N.J.), September 16, 2002
“The parents of the murdered teenagers (led by the suberb Robert Orth), who are pushing for De Rocher’s execution, anchor a spare, haunting sextet.”
Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2002
L’ETOILE
“Man cannot live by champagne alone -- he also needs the music of Emmanuel Chabrier, which is the aesthetic equivalent of a chilled split of Dom Perignon. If that sounds good to you, it's not too late to catch New York City Opera's divinely silly production of Chabrier's "L'Etoile," an operetta full of surreal happenings and sparkling tunes. Mark Lamos's dizzy staging is as slapsticky as a Chaplin short, and Robert Orth, the star of the evening, not only mugs like a trouper but also does a cartwheel and a split, an event almost certainly unique in the annals of opera. Alas, there is only one performance left, Thursday at 7:30 p.m., so drop everything, pack your funny bone and head for the New York State Theater. You will return refreshed.”
The Washington Post, November 3, 2002
“True to its title,Chabrier’s opera bouffe “L’etoile”(directed by Mark Lamos) has become the star of City Opera’s adventurous but uneven fall season. The end rhymes of Jeremy Sam’s English translation may bring a touch of D’Oyly Carte to the libretto, but there is no masking the Gallic insouciance (both sexual and political) of this rarely performed gem, giddily magnified by Constance Hoffman’s costumes, with their bold colors out of Toulouse-Lautrec, and the zany space-age sets and lighting of Andrew Lieberman and Robert Wierzel. Everybody sings and everybody dances, and everybody does it well, especially the versatile baritone Robert Orth, who, complete with padded rump, renders the ridiculous King Ouf as a very fey variation on Mike Myer’s Dr. Evil.”
THE NEW YORKER, November 4, 2002
"In the case of L'Etoiles leading man, baritone Robert Orth, singer-friendliness hardly mattered. Orth was a daffy, lovably supercilious Ouf, delivering his lines crisply and with unerring comic timing. What's more, he can dance the can-can, do a split, gracefully mimic Tchaikovsky's dying swan and turn in a wicked Maurice Chevalier imitation."
Opera News, February 2003
A WATERBIRD TALK
Robert Orth scored a huge success Jan. 12 with Dominick Argento's comic "A Water Bird Talk" as he talked, sang, sputtered, argued, regaled his audience with piano playing, and all but tore the roof off the historic-landmark hall in his tour de force.
The performer has to be versatile to the core, and Orth was all of that---in addition to confirming again his skills as an accomplished actor of the opera stage (no mean feat!).
artssf.com