We’ve got an American opera based on an American original on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/10 3:00 p.m.) with “The Shining,” based on the novel by Stephen King with music and libretto by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell.
The libretto for the opera is based on King’s novel, and it differs slightly from the Kubrick film, but the basic plot is the same.
Jack Torrance (Edward Parks) is a writer who is a recovering alcoholic with anger management issues. He and his wife, Wendy (Kelly Kaduce), jump at the chance to come to the Overlook Hotel in Colorado to try to mend their relationship, away from outside distractions in the closed-for-the-season resort. With them is their son Danny (Tristan Hallett) who has a special gift which is recognized by the hotel’s cook, Dick Hallorann (Aubrey Allicock), who also has the psychic gift to see things around him that others can’t.
Jack may also have the shining because the hotel almost immediately begins to affect him, and he is menaced by some of it’s long-gone inhabitants like Delbert Grady (Wayde Odle) who killed his wife and two daughters there, and Lloyd the bartender (Roger Honeywell) who exposes Jack to drink once more leading to the terrifying ending.
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City is joined by the Kansas City Symphony, and the production is conducted by Gerard Schwarz.
We’ll continue with more of Moravec’s work after the opera including his Montserrat: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Circular Dreams, and his Violin Concerto before we change things up in an “autumn” frame of mind with Joachim Raff’s Symphony No. 10 in F minor titled “Zur Herbstzeit” (“In Autum Time”). We’ll close our time together with one more Moravec piece, his duet for flute and piano titled Autumn Song.
