On January 13, MasterVoices, led by Ted Sperling, introduced its virtual version of Adam Guettel’s four-part theatrical song cycle, “Myths and Hymns,” with a compelling presentation, featuring a starry cast, of its “Chapter One: Flight,” inspired by Greek—and Roman—mythology and Protestant Hymns. The subsequent chapters follow on MasterVoices’ You Tube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-JR320vlIQ&feature=youtu.be, on February 24 (“Work”). April 14 (“Love”), and May 26 (“Faith”). I prepared for this 24-minute “Flight” by consulting Edith Hamilton’s “Greek Mythology,” in the copy I’ve had since high school.
Piano duo (Greg) Anderson & (Elizabeth Joy) Roe, at their Steinways, kicked off “Flight” with “Prometheus,” as a lively, buoyant prelude, in Anderson’s arrangement and under his direction. Singer and actor Joshua Henry, backed by MasterVoices, was the soloist for “Saturn Returns: the Flight,” about Saturn/Cronus, father of Jupiter/Zeus, was full of yearning. Sperling directed.
Mykal Kilgore was the eponymous “Icarus,” brimming with potential and longing for “altitude,” and lyric baritone Norm Lewis, his fretful father Daedalus, creator of the Labyrinth, who, in their duet, with rhythmic drive, warned his son, vulnerable on oh-so-frail wings, against flying too close to the fiery sun. Sammi Cannold was the director and Lucy Mackinnon, the designer. Sopranos Renée Fleming, Julia Bullock, and Kelli O’Hara provided a peaceful interlude with “Migratory V,” an alluring trio, beginning with Fleming’s “We sail above the weather,” then backed by MasterVoices. The soloists, seen against wintry scenes of bare trees, snow, and an icy river, with animated images of birds in flight above, blended beautifully in this gentle number, directed by Lear deBessonet, co-created by Danny Mefford and illustrated by Yazmany Arboleda, with Cloud Chantanda responsible for animation.
Narrator Annie Golden, Jose Liana as the proud and ambitious rider Bellerophon, possibly Poseidon’s son; Capathia Jenkins as the wondrous eponymous winged horse “Pegasus;” and Elizabeth Stanley, following her instinct as the gadfly, who bites the steed and dooms the rider, cheerfully recounted this cautionary tale, to guitar and light percussion accompaniment, under Sperling’s direction, with illustrations by Steven Kellogg. Bringing “Chapter One” to a close, gospel group Take 6 backed by MasterVoices, fervently sang the hymn “Jesus, the Mighty Conqueror,” with a refrain of “the Lord has risen,” as arranged by Mark Kibble and directed by Khristian Dentley.
This first chapter certainly whet the appetite for the remainder of “Myths and Hymns.”