Pennsylvania Ballet's "Messiah' (2nd review)

When I saw the first posters for the Pennsylvania Ballet's Messiah last season, I didn't say Yecch, but I did shake my head. A dance version of Handel's Messiah sounded about as appealing as a colorized version of a classic black-and-white film like, say, High Noon or Casablanca.

I'm a Baroque music enthusiast who has attended at least 30 full-length live performances of Messiah. My favorites are the Pennsylvania Pro Musica's annual performances, conducted in the past by Franklin Zimmerman. That Handel scholar led a Messiah that received the full benefit of his knowledge of Baroque practice and Handel's intentions.

To a true early music devotee, musical organizations should adhere, as closely as possible, to the composer's original vision. If Handel had wanted to add dancing to his oratorio, he would have specified it.

But there are arguments on the other side, too. Ballet is a derivative form, like opera and the movies. If Prokofiev can turn Romeo and Juliet into a ballet, why can't the Pennsylvania Ballet add dancing to Messiah?

And can I really assume Handel would have groaned? Handel was, after all, a practical man who switched from Italian operas to English oratorios when he realized that the English loved oratorios but couldn't warm up to opera.

So how does the Pennsylvania Ballet version of Messiah look to a Baroque purist who's trying to be open-minded?

"'Hallelujah's' new home

To start with, this really is a complete Messiah, with every chorus and aria you normally hear right up to the long, magnificently complicated final "Amen." The audience hears a standard Messiah sung by a professional choral group that's been doing it for decades.

The only significant change in the text occurs in the placement of the Hallelujah Chorus. Normally, Handel's most famous chorus comes near the end, as the triumphant climax to the tension built up by the arias and choruses that depict nations raging against the Lord's anointed and the Lord smiting them with a rod of iron. The Ballet's scenario places this chorus at the end of the first act, where it becomes a celebration of the vision of the future raised by the opening prophecies.

It works very well in that place, and it isn't missed later on. The chorus celebrating the resurrection, "Lift Up Your Heads," becomes the triumphal chorus that the next-to-last section requires.

"'Covering' the Earth, literally

Robert Weiss's choreography is most effective when it's expressing general feelings, like "Glory to God in the Highest." It's weakest when it gets too literal.

For example, for the passage, "Behold, darkness shall cover the Earth," the dancers manipulate a big black cloth that literally covers some of them. Handel's scene-painting music might have been better served with choreography that expressed confusion, accompanied by a simple dimming of the stage lighting.

The choreography also includes some standard ballet ploys. The chorus, "All we like sheep have gone astray," becomes an excuse for a good dance-party sequence. The "raging nations" aria livens things up with a battle ballet, complete with machine guns and sword fights. It's a grim sequence, with appropriate anti-war overtones, but it also satisfies our appetite for drama.

The dancers create one of their best moments during the "Amen"— one of the greatest choruses Handel ever wrote. To my secular, irreligious soul, that final "So be it" is an immense affirmation of the mystery and wonder at the heart of existence.

200 ways to say "'Amen'

Franklin Zimmerman has observed that Handel seemed determined to say "Amen" in as many ways as he could. In fact, Zimmerman claims, Handel says it more than 200 different ways, including two sections in which he says it purely with instruments and a rest (which Zimmerman interprets as a silent amen). The dancers add a new element: They say it with their bodies.

If you're a veteran Messiah fan, the Pennsylvania Ballet's production will evoke cheers in its best parts and raised eyebrows in others. But you'll probably be glad you gave it a try. It offers a fresh look at a familiar favorite, and its images will color all your future encounters with unembellished versions of Handel's score.♦


To read another review by Janet Anderson, click here.