Opus K. Poverman, New rep. reviewer

Opus
I feel like I’ve been really critical about the last couple of New Rep’s productions this season, but I’m afraid that “Opus,” which is currently playing there, is not going to break my crabby streak.
“Opus” has been described as a play that thoughtfully examines the tensions that can exist between love and friendship and a quest for greatness. A more apt description is that “Opus” is a play that explores how willing friends, colleagues and lovers are to throw each other under a bus when it is personally or professionally convenient to do so. I have to admit that a strong performance of the piece could lead to the first construction. However, the New Rep’s tepid production leads to the latter.
The play starts out with Grammy-winning Lazara Quartet seeking a fourth member because it has lost its viola player, Dorian. Dorian, the most talented and creative member of the group, has gone off his meds and has had a nervous breakdown. The only one who knows this is his lover Elliott, the lead violinist, who recently dumped Dorian. The other two members of the Quartet, Alan and Carl, have no idea where Dorian has gone or why. They are mildly concerned by his absence, but this concern is not great enough to stop them from seeking his replacement. They end up offering the position to Grace, a talented young viola player. Although she is flattered by the job offer, the nebbishy Grace is nervous about taking the job; she has heard stories about the group, such as one member threatening to tear another‘s head off. (Puh-leeze. Where did this girl grow up? Disneyworld?) However, Grace overcomes her fears and joins the Quartet, whose members soon show themselves to be as dysfunctional as she had feared. The group holds things together enough to perform at the White House, but things fall apart soon after that. Dorian reappears and challenges the new status quo and the group has to decide which four of them will compose the Lazara Quartet from that point on (this is where the throwing- under- the- bus bit comes in).
The telling of this story was quite slow for the first hour and if there had been an intermission I would have been tempted to leave. However, things picked up in the last twenty minutes or so, during the showdown about the future of the quartet. I’m not sure it was worth waiting for. That said, members of the musical cognoscenti appeared to enjoy the show more than I did. This may be because they could appreciate the audacity of playing Beethoven’s Opus 133 at the presidential inauguration, while I could not. It is certainly true that the two women sitting behind me, who had been members of string quartets, enjoyed the play much more than the rest of the audience. They were often the only ones who laughed at the actors’ lines. This was probably because they understood nuances that passed the rest of us by. When the play was over, they commented on how well the play captured the internecine bickering in string quarters. So, at least the play was realistic. If this is enough for you, then you may enjoy the play. If it is not, you might, like me, find “Opus” dull and uninspiring.

"Opus": Harmony Grit

By Jack Craib, New Rep Reviewer

New Rep’s latest production, “Opus”, is a tautly strung tale of four people who comprise the fictional Grammy-winning Lazara Quartet. The entire work, ironically itself a chamber piece, takes just over ninety minutes (without an intermission) to perform. As one character states, before the work is over they will have played all the notes. How and what they play is what matters here. Violist-playwright Michael Hollinger has provided a work that seems to be based on truth and deeply felt personal experience.

As the play opens, the quartet is composed of the appropriately “high strung” first violinist Elliot (Michael Kaye), the steady cellist Carl (Bates Wilder), the supportive second violinist Alan (Shelley Bolman), and the currently missing violist with a “complicated history with chemicals”, Dorian (Benjamin Evett). By the last coda, through the use of fascinating flashbacks, the shifting musical chairs will also include violist Grace (Becky Webber). Along the way, we are exposed to a hilarious smorgasbord of shifting sexual politics, unsung heroism, vacillating group dynamics, the fluctuating nature of the balance of power, and a strong fable on the way different people interrelate and perform, both individually and as a more or less cohesive group. As ensembles go, this gathering of actors never hits a sour note. Director Jim Petosa has managed to conduct a performance that is nothing short of pitch-perfect. Attention should also be paid to the impeccable sound cues and lighting, as well as the handsome and versatile set.

The story appears at first to be an ephemeral one, told with considerable insightful humor. Ultimately, however, it leaves the viewer and listener with some very moving, involving and lasting insights. Although it covers a good deal of serious ground, touching on current issues like fidelity, honesty, divorce, sexual orientation, and loyalty, it does so with the deceptively simple touches of a maestro who understands much about the complexity of humanity. Like all great music, it motivates and inspires much deeper emotions than it might at first seem.

At one point, one of the quartet admits that in making one significant choice, they may have “settled for a little less brilliance, less spontaneity maybe, but a lot more reliability”. Happily, neither the playwright nor the production makes that mistake. As the penultimate production of New Rep’s current season, the company is surely ending on a high note.

A New Opus

By Frank Furnari, New Rep Reviewer

Opus opens as a string quartet concert does, with the sound of the ensemble tuning followed by (hopefully) beautiful music. Opus, a play receiving its New England Premier at New Rep, revolves around the Lazara Quartet and delves into the dynamics of the group. The quartet is in search of a new violist to replace Dorian, the virtuoso performer who was asked to leave the ensemble because he “crossed a line.” Grace, a younger performer auditions for the group and is, to her shock, offered the job on the spot. Grace has to decide whether to take the artistically rewarding job with Lazara, or wait in hopes for a stable job with the symphony. This is a choice many musicians must make - to choose from the ability to be one among equals or to go the safe route – join an orchestra, get dental insurance, a retirement plan and as Elliot, the 1st violinist puts it, “spend the rest of your professional life enthralled to a baton.”

Grace joins Lazara and is thrown into the ensemble and all its drama. Interspersed are flashbacks that show us the quartet with Dorian who is always on a course for artistic perfection, even though he realizes that while it will never be perfect, it can be better. Dorian is also Elliot’s lover, an open secret that has now affected the ensemble. When Alan, the 2nd violinists attempts to start some sort of relationship with Grace, he is reminded that such relationships are not good for the ensemble. Carl, the cellist rounds out the ensemble. At first Carl is quiet and just wants to be there to play the music, but we learn that there are other things going on with Carl and the music is a way to deal with other situations.

Jim Petosa assembled and directed a strong cast. Benjamin Evett is a strong Dorian, showing us into both Dorian’s genius as well as his mental instability. Michael Kaye is great as Elliot – giving some diva moments, but also showing Elliot’s depth. Bates Wilder adds nuance to Carl’s character, almost blending into the background in the beginning, but by the end, all eyes are on him. It’s always interesting when actors mime playing instruments on stage – sometimes it can be quite painful to watch, but in this production each actor has great intensity and conveys a passion about playing the music that at the very beginning of the show, had I not noticed they weren’t changing the fingering, I might have thought they were actually playing.

Cristina Todesco’s set was minimal but had some interesting elements to it such as the sheet music theme with sheet music on the floor as well as around the proscenium. The cables on the stage were an interesting touch like strings on an instrument as well as bar lines on a sheet of music.

At the beginning we hoped for beautiful music and we got some of that, but we also got a compelling behind the music look at the people making the music that is true to life, all packaged in 95 minutes of theatre.