Special Project: The Shining, Opera

But the Minnesota Opera’s production of “The Shining” puts you on edge the right way, with fearless stagecraft, a daredevil score and a libretto that’s unafraid to take audiences into another world. It marries the highest of art forms with one of the most suspect in popular culture. It’s fully accessible to audiences new and old, and it was clear from the crowd that it succeeded in bring different faces into the theater…fantasy, pure escapism and refreshing, [it] feels like opera ought to feel now. It moves at a contemporary pace and it builds like an action movie.”

“a well-made, entertaining piece… [it] elevates the tale from a horror story to a human drama.  Mr. Moravec’s witty, evocative music strikes a good balance between the sincere and the creepy…pacing [was] swift and scary without skimping on the emotional resonance.”

“Moravec and Campbell have created a thrilling addition to the modern opera repertoire aided and abetted by one of the strongest productions Minnesota Opera has created in its fifty-three year history.  [MN Opera] might have scored its biggest triumph yet with the world premiere of Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s The Shining. One of the most sumptuous and startling productions I have ever seen Minnesota Opera attempt. This is one of the most ambitious physical productions in the company’s history and the risks they take pay off big time; creating some gorgeous stage pictures and some genuinely terrifying moments. In adapting Stephen King’s iconic novel for the operatic stage, Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell have created a genuinely fantastic retelling of The Shining that manages to translate all of the novel’s horror in tact.

“Electrifying Music” — “an eager crowd made its way to [The Ordway], each person holding one of the hottest tickets in America: a ticket to the world premiere of The Shining…The new opera surges forward on the strength of electrifying music by Paul Moravec. The singers, performing a libretto by Mark Campbell, float atop the orchestral score like uncertain vessels on a roiling sea as their stay as demons awake to torture them. It’s a hell of a ride…‘Is it scary?’ It is…Moravec has created a soundtrack to the chaos within Jack Torrance’s heart, and it’s truly terrifying.”

“A Masterful Musical Dramatist” — “The excitement was palpable [as] the audience sat waiting for the world premiere of Moravec’s hotly anticipated new opera, The Shining. Pulitzer Prize-winner Moravec and his accomplished, prolific librettist Mark Campbell wisely chose to hew closely to Stephen King’s bestselling novel… Moravec proves to be a masterful musical dramatist. As the characters ricochet across an outsized spectrum of emotions, the orchestral fabric is a prime engine of the narrative, deftly shape-shifting from opulently romantic to subtly ominous to outright terrifying. The music is impressively creative, maximally effective, and it continues to outdo itself throughout the piece.