Review Roundup: What Did Critics Think of SEMELE at Opera Philadelphia?

Semele recently opened at Opera Philadelphia and critics were in attendance. Find out what they had to say!

Opera Philadelphia is currently putting on Handel's Semele, in a new treatment "filled with energetic storytelling" (Opera News) from visionary director James Darrah (Breaking the Waves) and the Chromatic creative team at the Perelman Theater.

Read the reviews below!

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David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer: Sophisticated computer graphics, choreography for the chorus (with dancers mixed in), and a strong theatrical viewpoint typical of O19 turned Handel's mythological characters into cult denizens who could easily connect with a 21st-century sensibility. Here, Semele flees an arranged marriage in one cult only to enter another shadowy, controlling society collected around Jupiter.

Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal: Gustavo Ramirez Sansano's choreography for five dancers and movement for the chorus were fully integrated into the action, giving it an intriguing, ritual look; this was heightened by Sarah Schuessler's body-covering black costumes for the mortal choristers and the more revealing beige ones for the immortals. This was all very effective in Act I, making Semele's forced marriage to Athamas seem like part of a rite by a terrified, misogynistic cult, but the visual change to the world of the gods didn't make the environment much brighter or happier. A three-hour opera needs some visual variety.

William, Opera Warhorses: Although every Handel aria is a gem, the role of Semele includes two of the opera's "showstoppers". Endless pleasure, Endless love, the aria that closes the opera's first act, celebrates Semele's ascension into Jupiter's realm. The opera's most famous aria, Myself I Shall Adore is Semele's injudicious display of hubris. Forsythe sang the aria with technical brilliance, surrounded by myriads of Semele images, created by North Carolina Projection Designer Adam Larsen.

Photo Credit: Dominic M. Mercier

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