Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio

From Liverpool Oratorio — Cincinnati Opera:

PAUL MCCARTNEY’S
LIVERPOOL ORATORIO

JULY 18 & 20, 2024 | 7:30 PM
JULY 21 & 27, 2024 | 3:00 PM
MUSIC HALL • SPRINGER AUDITORIUM

Music and libretto by Paul McCartney and Carl Davis

Sung in English with projected lyrics

FOR THE WHOLE WERE WE BORN.

Memories from Paul McCartney’s life in Liverpool England inspire chapters on growing up and finding our way. Beginning with Latin which means, “not for ourselves, but for the whole were we born,” the piece explores formative moments, relationships, and the responsibilities we face. See the world premiere opera adaptation of McCartney’s acclaimed work for orchestra and voices, a powerful story full of heartfelt lyrics and effortless melodies.

I attended the Liverpool Oratorio performance today in Cincinnati at Music Hall.

The main gist here for those who aren’t aware is the full performance of Paul’s original Oratorio with the 4-singer lineup, choir, boys choir and orchestra. Except this new performance has been choreographed like a modern-day opera of sorts. The singers are performing the roles as they are singing now.

What did I like:

I mainly liked how the choirs were now embedded into the performance. They would do regular costume changes and act as extras in the scenes. Like for example the boys choir were all at desks during the school scene. During the scene where the father was buried, the choir were mourning at the cemetery.

I also liked the very subtle but clear imagery that Shanty was swaddled in a green scarf at birth and then wore that in scenes through his life. So you could always find him on stage among the throngs of others. Mary wore a distinctively-colored dress from the other women.

The set was also radically unusual but neat too and effective. Difficult to see in this shot but that billboard thing disappeared and the 3-D sloped map of Liverpool was the performance stage. Actually that billboard cityscape of Liverpool stayed for the opening scene in the bomb shelter as searchlights were moving on the city and bombs (aka red flashes) falling. Other set pieces were cleverly used as you would expect in a stage performance. But all was performed on the map.

Lastly, hearing the orchestra play the music live was great! This along with the performance aspect really brought the show alive.

What I was meh on:

One thing I thought was odd was there were two versions of the main characters Mary Dee and Shanty: a singing version who was acting out the performance but also an ‘expressionist’ version who danced or provided emotional displays as the characters felt things while they went through their lives.

At first this was interesting as the characters start as children so the singers were almost doing a Scrooge thing as they pseudo watched their lives unfold while singing the pieces. But as they moved into adulthood it just became weird having two adult versions of the same characters on stage. […]

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Cincinnati Music Hall, Springer Auditorium

This was the 3rd concert played at Cincinnati Music Hall, Springer Auditorium.

A total of 4 concerts have been played there • 2024 • Jul 18th • Jul 20th • Jul 21st • Jul 27th