Review Roundup: ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS Opens at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre is presenting Oratorio For Living Things, written by Heather Christian and directed by Lee Sunday Evans. Performances will run through November 16.

The cast includes Kirstyn Cae Ballard, Jonathan Christopher, Carla Duren, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, Brian Flores, Jonny-James Kajoba, Barrie Lobo McLain, Ángel Lozada, Divya Maus, Ben Moss, Onyie Nwachukwu, and Dito Van Reigersberg.

Understudies are Major Curda, Laura Darrell, Elisa Galindez, and Jacob Ryan Smith, and musicians are Fraser Campbell, Jane Cardona, Clerida Eltimé, John Murchison, Odetta Hartman and Peter Wise.

In this music-theater piece, creator Heather Christian infuses a classical oratorio with a captivating blend of blues, gospel, jazz, and soul. Both otherworldly and achingly intimate, this immersive event delves into the intricacies of human memory alongside the powerful forces that shape the universe. Christian’s utterly singular work explores the origins of existence and our place within it.

David Finkle, New York Stage Review: First, let’s hear it for the highly effective elements: Christian’s music is both sumptuous and austere. That’s to say, its presentation as a modern-day oratorio sounds exactly right, certainly as conducted by Jane Cardona and interpreted by the six-part orchestra playing unseen above the end of the room where audience members enter and exit. The resultant overarching spirituality catches listeners in the palm of its many, many pages of exacting measures.

Allison Considine, New York Theatre Guide: Oratorio for Living Things completely reshapes what a theatre performance can be. Featuring 12 performers and six musicians, composer Heather Christian's immersive musical work is a sweeping aural experience that blends jazz, soul, blues, and gospel. It moves fluidly between the cosmic and the intimate, zooming out to the Big Bang and in to the small moments that make life worth living.

Average Rating: 70.0%