Elektra ft. The Conductor & His Crew

After climbing up about five flights of stairs, fearing that I’d tumble down the steep steps in the balcony, and finally squeezing into my seat, I immediately noticed that we had an awesome overhead view of the stage. Because we were so high up, I was able to to spot all the different musicians and instruments on the stage. Though to my surprise, the orchestra occupied nearly the entire stage, whereas in Otello, the orchestra was offstage, down in the pit. I wondered how on earth we were going to see the opera singers perform and I concluded that maybe they will just sing and not act. I was wrong.

Throughout the whole performance, the characters did not physically act or move around as much in Elektra as in Otello, yet their emotions were clearly conveyed thanks to the conductor and the orchestra. For example, in the scene where Elektra tried to persuade her sister Chrysothemis to help kill their mother Klytamnestra, they stood on either side of the conductor and sang. There wasn’t much acting in this scene, so I didn’t know exactly what emotions to expect, since we did not read the play. But the conductor’s enthusiastic gestures guided me though the scene, and he made it much more interesting. At the part when Chrysothemis pulled out of Elektra’s revenge plan because she wanted to remain pure and start a family, the conductor softly and deftly waved his arms towards the orchestra. This showed that Chrysothemis’s words were innocent and harmless. Then toward the end of the scene, when Elektra cursed her sister, the conductor briskly moved his arms, letting everyone feel the intensity of the curse. Throughout the rest of the show, I ended up paying more attention to the conductor than the performers. I mean, based on his location on the stage, people were bound to see him as a bridge between the characters in Elektra, or maybe even as another member of the cast!

Music was also an important component of the performance, which is why the orchestra took up probably 90% of the stage in Elektra. In Otello, the orchestra just supplemented the actors and actresses because the characters were given the whole stage to act. However, like I mentioned before, the characters in Elektra lacked acting and using props. This was why it was crucial for the music to enhance any dull moments. During parts of the performance where there wasn’t a lot of action, I looked at the percussion players in the back of the stage. Compared to the violin and viola players, the percussionists looked like they did little work, but they had one of the most important roles. That was because percussion instruments, especially the timpani, are very deep and strong in tone. As a result, they signal the dramatic events in Elektra, along with the conductor’s gestures. For instance, the beginning and ending “Agamemnon” motifs were extremely powerful and daunting because of the percussionists and the rest of the orchestra. On a side note, it was fun to watch the timpani player switch his timpani sticks/mallets and wait for him to actually strike the instrument, which took a long time in some scenes.

Overall, Elektra was an exciting show. I thought it would be less entertaining than Otello due to the lack of space for the singers to perform, but after realizing the conductor’s and his crew’s roles, Elektra did not disappoint me. They greatly enhanced the emotions of the characters and helped me understand the plot better.