The opera has long been hailed by patrons as a transcendent experience. The KSU Opera did not disappoint in its Night of Miracles. The two one-act performances were beautifully portrayed.Giacomo Puccini’s “Sister Angelica” opened the evening with an all female cast. The story is of a woman forced into monastic solitude after giving birth to an illegitimate son. Her sisters at the monastery know that there is something that troubles her, but Angelica, played by Amy Smithwick, has never revealed her past to them. She spends her days mixing herbs to use as medicine and waiting for any news of her child. One day, a strange visitor arrives at the abbey to see her.
Since Angelica has shamed her family name, her aunt, the princess, excellently portrayed by Leah Sexton, does not greet her or offer her any news. She only demands that Angelica sign away her inheritance for her younger sister’s wedding. Coldly, she tells Angelica that the boy she never knew died two years ago. Overcome with grief, Angelica concocts a poison from her herbs. After ingesting them, she immediately regrets her decision. Angelica begs the Virgin Mother to forgive her mortal sin with her dying breath. As she expires, she sees a vision of the Virgin Mother and her long lost son.
The women of the KSU Opera did an amazing job bringing Puccini’s work to life. Amy Smithwick’s stirring portrayal of Sister Angelica was heart-wrenchingly beautiful. The entire cast gave performances worthy of such a powerful opera.
After intermission, the second one-act opera, “The Three Hermits” by Stephen Paulus, brought to life a timeless parable by Leo Tolstoy. Paulus uses a great deal of Russian Orthodox liturgy set to a libretto by Michael Douglas Browne to tell the story of three men with childlike faith.
While sailing the White Sea, a Russian Orthodox bishop, played by Timothy Marshal, is told of three hermits living on a nearby island. Those three, portrayed by Forrest Starr, Matt Welsh and Matthew Boatwright, receive the bishop with joy and attempt to learn from him the proper way to pray. Marshal, Starr, Welsh and Boatwright’s performance of the bishop’s day with the hermits, attempting to learn the Lord’s Prayer, was done masterfully. They each gave superb performances, moving and intersecting with each other vocally as if they had lived together on an island for decades.
After returning to the ship, the bishop mulls over the experience with his mother, performed by Emily Crisp, and two sisters of the church. They are all shocked when they see the three men running on the water toward the boat. They arrive still miraculously standing on the sea and ask the bishop to repeat his lesson of the Lord’s Prayer, apologizing for their forgetfulness. In a humble awe, the bishop instead asks the three holy hermits to pray for him.
The KSU Opera did not disappoint in their double feature Night of Miracles. The orchestra and the exquisite vocals of the entire KSU Opera cast resounded in Morgan Hall at the Dr. Bobbie Bailey & Family Performance Center beautifully performed the two one-act performances.
