The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 59

THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1997 D9 Young Mozart's 'Shepherd King5 proves unruly mm LM.it vyfl.fi. JJLUJ III lUlll.UL.l lu.llil.l, 11.1 1 I. ummu il II jHDWU)Um II JWUllUJIm'J. Ul.HU.nW MUiUUUlLHI .1 Minna wni ii.uiiu.wj pit i Ml; -i nr "THE BEST MOVIE WOODYALLEN HAS EVER MADE. 'Everyone Says I Love You' finds the perfect tone for a modern romantic musical comedy.

Woody Allen has succeeded brilliantly. absolutely wonderful." "DELIRIOUSLY ORIGINAL AND VERY FUNNY. Woody Allen has made something fresh and beguilingterrific." -iek)d gctoM "Dime "ABSOLUTELYMARVELOUS. A very, very funny, lyrical, tuneful, masterpiece of a movie." -Saw SKing, USJ. Soday PHOTO RICHARD FELDMAN Kendra Colton (far right) invests emotions into "The Shepherd OPERA Continued from Page Dl to be.

The opera was commissioned to celebrate the arrival of an archduke in Salzburg. The libretto, which had already been set by many other composers, is a paean to enlightened royalty. The moral seems to be that if you choose love rather than the crown, you can have both. The piece unfolds as a cantata 11 long formal arias, separated by recitative and varied once by a duet. The first performance was apparently without much scenery or staging, and today it's hard to imagine what a full stage production could add to the virtues of a concert performance.

(Apparently the only previous New England performance of "The Shepherd King" was a concert performance conducted by Craig Smith at Castle Hill in 1984, an occasion that marked the local debut of Lorraine Hunt as a professional singer.) "The Shepherd King" seems a peculiar venture for the Boston Lyric Opera, which has produced only two of the seven full-length operatic masterpieces by Mozart, and no Mozart at all in more than a decade. Budget probably determined the choice: There are only five singers, no chorus, modest scenic demands and a small orchestra. The staging was entrusted to Ron Daniels, whose work for the American Repertory Theatre has won admiration. In "The Shepherd King" he is entirely out of his element, so he has superimposed his element onto Mozart. The production is a pendant to Daniels' staging of Shakespeare's "Henry for the ART again he questions the values of kingship and the state, which is the last thing Mozart would have dared to do in composing a work for a state occasion.

Mozart poises the shepherd Aminta between the crown and the crook; Daniels suspends him between good and evil, which is much less complex and interesting. Alexander the Great moves in a somber world where he is always surrounded by fierce, sinister, glowering henchmen in black; they look as if they've hung around since "Tosca" last fall. Aminta understandably prefers a world where shepherds wear white silk and all the sheep are silent tl J' J'1 frs wSw. Waters has a sparkplug personality, but her singing is labored, and the monochromatic tone glares. Tenor Mark Thomsen produces some ringing sound and some that is thick; his coloratura seems modeled on the baa of all those sheep.

Paul Kirby's timbre and technique are not well suited to his arias, but you can see why the Lyric wanted to have him on-site: He has presence and bearing, and he can act. He is onstage constantly while other people sing very long arias, and Kirby knows how to listen as if he's never heard any of it before. "The Shepherd King" may not be dramatic, but it shouldn't be boring; this production left us counting sheep. I was up to 125 when I lost count THE SHEPHERD KING Opera by Mozart Presented by The, Boston Lyric Opera At: Emerson Majestic Theatre, Wednesday evening (repeats tonight, Sunday afternoon, and Jan. 21, 2b and 26) sistent standard of virtuoso singing, which it didn't get.

Kendra Colton as Aminta came closest. There must be more colors in her voice and more bloom at the top than she wants to let us hear, but her singing is beautiful in tone, line and phrasing. Her acting is as uncluttered as her singing, and she makes an emotional investment in both. Mezzo-soprano Laura Tucker is not as accomplished a vocalist, but the sound is nice and she also made a good impression; she communicates belief in what she's doing. Susannah EVERYONE SAYS I LOVEYOU and green.

Daniels has not found a consistent style of movement for his cast. There's a lot of artificial circling around and falling to the floor (there's only one chair in the land, and it's a throne), and the few gestures in the direction of realism are ridiculous (one character "confides" to another, "Rain falls from heaven and makes the young crops Catherine Zuber's costumes show some flair, but the sets by Paul Steinberg are hideous. Dozens of cutouts of sheep are tacked to four moving panels; more sheep move across the stage on casters. It looks as if a child has gone crazy with a rubber stamp and a green inkpad. The full frontal lighting was so crude it must have been deliberate, although it's impossible to think of a reason for it; the shadows were uncontrollable, and some of the audience was treated to a sustained view of the silhouette of the stage manager with his headset and mouthpiece.

Musically "The Shepherd King" relies on high-class orchestral playing, which it got (concertmaster Maynard Goldman was the obbligato soloist in the famous aria); stylish conducting, which it got; and a con- 8w tola -feW STARTS SOHVmUtHES NICKELODEON UUDttiin GENERAL CtHEMA GENERAL CINEMA GENERAL CINEMA KENDALL SO. BURLINGTON 10 CHESTNUT HILL RAMINGHAM 14 in. 12I-EXIT32B HE. 9 At HAMMOND SI. FlFilHSUIiSOWJlUM 494-9800 229-9200 277-2500 508 628-4404 C0MM0NWU1TXAVL lULAl 333-FIIM 005 Late show tonight at Chestnut Hill Ty7 cj oYnV "COMEDY, THRILLS AND EXCITEMENT!" Don Stotter, "ENTERTAINMENT TIME-OUT" SYNDICATION, Miami IDEM GLO ICC "IF YOU LIKED EDDIE MURPHY IN '48 HOURS! THEN YOU'LL including BEST PICTURE BEST ACTOR GEOFFREY RUSH LOVE HIM IN 'METRO'!" Diane Kaminsky, KH0U-TV, Houston it FILM OF Till YEAR "THE 01 'V -Jay Carr, BOSTON GLOBE "THE ROLLER-COASTER RIDE OF YOUR LIFE!" "QUE OF THE TOP 10 FW OF 1996." -Jay Carr, BOSTON GLOBE -Matthew Gilbert, BOSTON GLOBE -James Verniere, BOSTON HERALD -Peter Keough, BOSTON PHOENIX Maria Salas, CBS-TELENOTICIAS T'r -James Verniere, BOSTON HERALD "EDDIE MURPHY IS HILARIOUS, TOUG AND SEXY!" Cameron Turner, HANGIN' HOLLYWOOD "ONCE SEEK, FOREVER REMEMBERED!" -Gene Shalit, TODAY, NBC-TV umm TMiinflEiG iiiiiw HiliJlflUiJ HI i "I -SISKEL EBERT DJOU G3 ijj ijL -Joel Siegel, GOOD MORNING AMERICA 1 1 It lp: 1 as www NOW PLAYING AT THESE SELECTED THEATRES! STARTS TODAY AT THESE SELECTED THEATRES! IS iHin'Ji'rm" II I I 1 I I SHOWCASE CINEMAS "1 1 If OINEiM CINEMA 1 1 ONT THIAIUS II rT1riii SnlP SI vttML DEDHAM BURLINGTON 10 BRAINTREE 10 FRAMINGHAM 14 DANVERS 6 ciJSJ.u ii squile id.

ia in is a iil il m. i iii exit ISA fju in 11117 1 ntsiiiawinj 111. 111-ixii mat mwuh 333-FILM H027II 566-4040 Q18 1 1 386-1660 II 933-5330 II 316-4955 229-9200 il 848-1070 II 508 638-440411 333-HIM 0O9 II WOllffl, Bfttst NICKELODEON KENDALL SQ. CIRCLE WOBURN NATICK ffi lit CGWCNWIWH SM CtlVHANC CUCU lt. Ill li I IIL 11 111 I OM SW1tl Mlfl 333-FllM 1003 I I 494-9800 566-4040 933-5330 I 333 FIW 0I7 KCNDALL SO.

Lale show tonight at Circle Woburn www.mowies.coin NO PASSES OR DISCOUNT COUPONS ACCEPTED.FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT -'i- -m 1 1- 1 iiCtin 1 1 iiwiMifBiitn.