As “Deep Love” begins, the main lights dim, a red glow covers the stage and a daunting harmony settles across the theater like in Jaws but without the shark. Everyone from the band to the ushers dress in reaper attire. The audience, an almost full house dressed in their best funeral attire, break into wild, unruly cheers of applause like a Rolling Stones reunion show. This is not your typical opera.
NBC’s “The Voice” contestant, Savannah Berry as Constance, opens the show singing a ballad to memories while mourning her deceased love, ghostly “Old Bones” played by Jon Peter Lewis.
“Still as the snow I watched, as they covered his bones and pleaded for peace to my soul, but I couldn’t find it. Under the blue, I struggled to reckon the truth I knew what it was I must do, and I couldn’t fight it. For the only thing ‘tween me and the breeze is a season of solace, a long winters rest.”
From here the story becomes fast paced and unfolds with unexpected twists into a classic dramatic Romeo and Juliet scenario. The audience doesn’t even notice that everyone is dead. Without the plotline in the program I would have been very confused.
Creators Ryan Hayes and Garrett Sherwood redefine opera with their passion through this year’s improved rendition of “Deep Love.” Hayes and Sherwood added two new songs to the show from last year, lengthening not only the show time but also the depth of the story line and character detail. Despite the confusion with the plotline, the cast of the show was truly entertaining.
Cheers echoed through the theater with every high note sung, and the two-hour event seemed to disappear. “Deep Love” isn’t your cliché opera; it is an awesomely sad story told to kickin’ orchestrated folk rock symphony.
To keep up with “Deep Love” or more info about showings, visit www.deeploveopera.com.
