Skylight Opera opened its twentieth season this past week with the dark operetta, “The Midnight Angel.”

The mysterious story, written by Peter S. Beagle, is best described as a haunting tale with a comedic twist. The musical score is by David Carlson.

The story centers on the aging Lady Neville (played by the prestigious Julie Simson) who is bored with her elaborate parties full of endless gossip. In the first half of the opera, Captain Compson (the wonderful Robert Orth) tells the bored Lady a haunting story of when he came face-to-face with Death on the battlefield as a soldier.

Lady Neville is intrigued by the story and suddenly decides to invite Death to her next ball. She explains that she wants the party to be legendary and for the guest of honor to be Death.

My impression of Death, like most of the audience, was that a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe, wearing a midnight black gown would show up to the Lady’s ball. Not true in this opera.

In the second act of the show, which is set at the Lady Neville’s ball, Death arrives and is a woman named Angeline (played by the glorious Katherine Pracht).

She is dressed in a virgin white dress, has long blonde hair, and is barefoot. Her entrance to the ball is dynamic. Lighting flashes, the guests huddle for cover and the doors thrust open to Angeline’s silhouette.

Throughout the second act Angeline tells the guests of the party that she was chosen to be Death, though not remembering why. She loves being human again and dances freely with the ensemble at the ball.

Two of these ensemble members are UWM Bachelor of Fine Arts acting majors, Matthew Belopavlovich and Daniel Koester. A third member, Matthew Koester, is a graduate of the same program. Though Belopavlovich is most visible to the audience during the opera, all three actors do a marvelous job in their ensemble roles.

Angeline is happy with being human again and makes the decision to choose another being to take her spot as Death. This decision-making process is quite long and drawn out for being so near to end of the story.

Angeline finally chooses Lady Neville after singing through all the other guests. There are tears and cries from Neville’s friends but she accepts the position from Angeline. After Neville leaves the ball to attend to her new role, John Lorimond, a lonely poet, professes his love for Angeline. David Gagnon, who plays John, is decent in his role but his voice and diction are not up to par with the rest of the dynamic cast.

“The Midnight Angel” will not please all, but is a fun night at the theatre for those who love opera.

> Comments