They give the work an unedited, unmediated quality.
This is such a pleasure – to give the work the time and attention is deserves.
The dancers, in chic gray slacks by Gabriel Berry, give the work a tailored look.
The color scheme is cheerful, but the paint-can edges, razor-sharp, give the work a menacing cast.
Jasper Gahunia's score, a recording of atmospheric hums, scratches and sometimes beats, doesn't give the work momentum.
A hint of Parisian Impressionism is evident in the shifting, gentle textures that give the work a sense of mystery.
"I want to give the work a cultural resonance," he said, pointing to his own heritage as a Chinese Indonesian.
As a member of the academy, Dr. Davis could suggest reviewers for his paper, and he proposed researchers who he thought would give the work a fair hearing.
In "Sticks" dancers wearing white shirts and loose white pants worked cooperatively in simple but painstaking patterns to maneuver the props that give the work its title.
The director Stephen Wadsworth's production is a timely reminder that an opera's setting does not have to be updated to give the work contemporary resonance.
Several chorales give the work a mysterious, stately quality toward the end, but the Devil gets his due, and his triumphal march ends with an eerie drum fadeout.
