Off-Broadstreet Theatre in Hopewell is staging Tim Slover’s almost-true-to-life ‘Joyful Noise,’ a romp through the politics, scandals and conniving behind the creation of George Frideric Handel’s ‘Messiah.’
By: Matt Smith
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| Joyce LaBriola and James Boyd star in Joyful Noise, on stage at Off-Broadstreet Theatre in Hopewell Oct. 17 to Nov. 22.
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"The two most fascinating subjects in the universe are sex and the 18th century."
Brigid Brophy, Don’t Never Forget
The 20th-century British novelist’s tongue-in- cheek summation holds true for Joyful Noise, a romp through the politics, scandals and conniving behind the creation of one the world’s most revered works of music, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
Off-Broadstreet Theatre in Hopewell is staging Tim Slover’s almost-true-to-life tale Oct. 17 through Nov. 22. TimeOFF theater critic Stuart Duncan will offer a post-show discussion following the Oct. 19 performance, one of the 25 events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the publication.
London, circa early 1740s: The famed composer, out of favor with the public and on thin ice with his benefactor, King George II, needs a hit. "Handel Furiouso," so named for his notorious temper, reluctantly agrees to set a Charles Jennens libretto to music but is nearly derailed by the efforts of a devious bishop. Two sopranos battle for a role in the oratorio one a disgraced adulterer, the other a bawdy type getting slightly long in the tooth. In the background, Handel’s manager and a music patron attempt to keep the composer on track.
"Out of all of this comes this wonderful piece of music," says OBT artistic director Bob Thick, who is directing the play. "It will be interesting, because we have booked it for a lot of church groups and it is a background they may not be familiar with."
"I think there’s a lot of history in the play, and you love history," adds Julie Thick, Mr. Thick’s wife and partner in OBT. "It’s nice to have the knowledge going in and it probably makes it more interesting, but even if you don’t know all that, it still works."
Mr. Thick is a bit of a history buff, and can speak about the period at great length. He explains that King George, on whom Handel depended for financial support, was upset that anthems written for the funeral of his wife, Queen Caroline, reappeared in a subsequent Handel opera. Out of money and desperate for success, the composer took up furious work on Jennens’ libretto.
"He wrote the piece in two weeks, which is absolutely amazing," says Mrs. Thick. "He would get like this, and they would leave him alone, bringing him food and composition sheets around the clock. They would drop things off and run."
"He was very irascible," notes Mr. Thick.
In the play, a powerful bishop with the king’s ear finds the work sacrilegious and attempts to block the Messiah. In fact, the composer could not muster enough support for the work in London and premiered it in Dublin on April 13, 1742.
Today’s audiences assume that the Messiah, with its glorious "Hallelujah Chorus," was composed by a spirit-filled man. That would be an incorrect assumption.
"He was not a terribly religious man from what I can gather," says Mr. Thick. "He did play at St. Paul’s (Cathedral) early on in his career, but he didn’t go to church every day because he wanted to. One of the funny lines in the show is when the soprano says to him: ‘I can’t stand next to the bishop all my life I just learned they don’t pay anything to sing in church,’ and that’s pretty much as it is today, too."
Handel, dubbed the "German pig" by the London press because of his origin and stout stature, was not a fan of ornamentation. He believed music should be performed as written on the page, and would be taken aback if he saw a modern-day performance of his best-known work.
"If Handel came back today and heard the Philadelphia (Orchestra) with their chorus of 300 or 400 voices," Mr. Thick says, "he would be absolutely astounded and very confused and probably quite upset, because he scored it originally as a double-octet piece 16 voices with a small orchestra. The only thing he gave into was a bit of brass here and there, but it was not intended to be a big, big program piece."
Off-Broadstreet veteran Joyce LaBriola plays one of the battling sopranos, Susannah Cibber, the adulteress. The Pennington native, a Westminster Choir College graduate, typically gets cast as the ingenue, but is enjoying this more substantive role.
"I think she’s the survivor of the cast," Ms. LaBriola says. "Theater people in general tend to be a little brasher, they have more of an edge to them anyway, and in that culture for her to be such adulterer and so scandalous and to be a woman shunned from society, who has to pull herself up by her bootstraps and go and try to get back involved with the theater to support her child, I think it’s very impressive.
"It seems a little anachronistic to have that type of attitude and those type of survival skills when you’re wearing the farthingales. For such a period piece to have a tough chick, it’s fun. She’s got a lot of strength, which is challenging to play."
Ms. LaBriola, a soprano herself, will get to do a bit of singing, but Joyful Noise is not a musical. The play does feature snippets of live singing, but the music is pre-recorded, meaning there is no 100-piece orchestra. And, of course, the playwright did take some liberties with the facts for dramatic purposes.
"Whatever license they’ve taken with the piece, they’ve taken it well," concludes Mr. Thick. "It’s well constructed and it’s going to be, I think, very entertaining, which is one of the bottom lines we try to get to."
Joyful Noise plays at Off-Broadstreet Theatre, 5 S. Greenwood Ave., Hopewell, Oct. 17-Nov. 22. Performances: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2:30 p.m.; doors open one hour earlier for dessert and beverages. Tickets cost $22.50 Fri., Sun. (senior discount Sun.); $24 Sat. TimeOFF theater critic Stuart Duncan will present a discussion following the 2:30 p.m. performance Oct. 19. For information, call (609) 466-2766.