Atlanta Opera Presents MACBETH Review

Mournful yet mellifluous, the chorus sings of their poor country—abandoned and abused by the King who only thinks of himself. They hold portrait pictures of those who have been lost, reminding of the Argentinian mothers in Plaza de Mayo and the more recent cries to “SAY HER NAME!” It takes but a few bars of Verdi’s Patria oppressa for us to feel the full weight of this grief-stricken moment. It does not surprise when the audience erupts in BRAVO!s at the conclusion of the song. Indeed!

It was not the first time in this production that the chorus seemed to appear in a quick blink to take over the Globe Theater modeled stage. They become a fixed multi-level collage of grief— filling the stage while their song saturates the great hall. It is one reminder of how the more traditional aspects of direction and stagecraft are at work throughout the performance to integrate song, acting and set. This is apparent from the overture, when the frozen cast is switched in an instant into an action ensemble.

The Atlanta Opera Supercharges MACBETH with Stunning Stagecraft

We can be forgiven for not being as attuned to this relatively mundane yet expert stage blocking at work to make the performance seamless. It is more Atlanta Opera’s tech wizardry that dazzles. The projection designs and lighting effects are akin to large blinking billboard signs announcing the emotional terrain of pivotal scenes. We can almost smell the blood when red lighting saturates the stage to amplify Macbeth’s murderous acts. A diaphanous curtain is sometimes a Jumbotron projection of actor’s faces. At other times, it is an on-the-ready haze to shroud the coven of singing witches in mystery while also framing the dancing witches in front of it like jagged and sharp-edged shadow puppets. At times, even the side monitors deployed as auxiliary libretto translators, flash performer face close-ups to amplify the visual action.

These special effects providing emotional landmarks to tell us where we are in the story are particularly welcome when beautiful melodies seem to belie the action. For those of us who especially love opera’s ability to amplify and distill affect, Verdi’s score can sometimes puzzle. You too may squirm a bit at how downright melodic it sounds when the witches are chanting about all things creepy and repugnant going into their witches’ brew (..eye of newt and toe of frog, etc.) .

All Systems Go In Final Act

Bass Morris Robinson playing Banquo is an early audience favorite, and especially commands the stage in the first acts. He is so commanding, in fact, that it’s only as an afterthought that we smile at remembering that the bloody arrow piercing his ghost torso might be something we once wore for Halloween.

In this reviewer’s opinion, both Sara Gartland as Lady Macbeth and Michael Mayes as Macbeth especially pack a lot of punch into their final scenes. We hear their madness and desperation in every note. Their bodies telegraph turmoil. We feel their frenzy. More, they pave the way for us to hear MacDuff’s fresh tenor (performed by Won Whi Choi). BRAVOs all around.

If you too—like Verdi himself—adore all things Shakespeare, The Atlanta Opera’s production of Macbeth is a top pick for your time. It’s even worth a flight or longer drive for out-of-towners who want to see how one of America’s top ten opera companies re-imagines one of the world’s most classic dramas about greed and power.

A next best alternative is to stream this performance, which is available for free starting March 7, 2025 from The Atlanta Opera website.*

CREATIVE TEAM:

CONDUCTOR Iván López-Reynoso
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Tomer Zvulun
STAGING DIRECTOR Gregory Luis Boyle
LIVE ACTION DIRECTOR Ran Arthur Braun
SCENIC DESIGNER Steven C. Kemp
COSTUME DESIGNER Robert Israel
LIGHTING & PROJECTION DESIGNER Driscoll Otto
ASSOCIATE LIGHTING DESIGNER Andrei Borges
ASSOCIATE PROJECTION & PROGRAMMER Andrew Garvis
WIG and MAKEUP DESIGNER Melanie Steele
ASSISTANT WIG & MAKE UP DESIGNER Wendy Sanders
CHORUSMASTER and ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Rolando Salazar
FILMED MEDIA Felipe Barral
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Elio Bucky*
MUSICAL PREPARATION Elena Kholodova
STAGE MANAGER Jen Shaw
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Caitlin Denney-Turner
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Aletha Saunders
PROJECTED TITLES OPERATED BY Brendan Callahan-Fitzgerald

CAST (IN ORDER OF VOCAL APPEARANCE)

MACBETH Michael Mayes
BANQUO Morris Robinson
LADY MACBETH Sara Gartland
LADY-IN-WAITING TO LADY MACBETH Aubrey Odle*
SERVANT OF MACBETH Brandon Stephens
DUNCAN, KING OF SCOTLAND David Silverstein
MALCOLM, DUNCAN’S SON Demetrious Sampson, Jr.
MACDUFF, THANE OF FIFE Won Whi Choi
FLEANCE, BANQUO’S SON Kaden Taylor
ASSASSIN Stephen McCool
HERALD John Arnold
DOCTOR Luke Harnish
APPARITIONS: A WARRIOR Jason Zacher*, A BLOODY CHILD Amanda Sheriff*, A CROWNED CHILD Hensley Peters
MOVEMENT SPECIALISTS Myric Andreasen, Juliana Feracota, Bailey Jo Harbaugh, Brandon Nguyen-Hilton, Gwynn Wolford, AC Wilson