Hello, Star at Opera Parallèle

 

Hello, Star

Chorus; Aniyjah Garrett as Young Celeste; Aisha Campbell as Celeste's Mother

Photo by Stefan Cohen, courtesy of Opera Parallèle

A few weeks ago, both SFCV and The Chronicle had previews of Opera Parallèle's newest Hands-On-Opera, a community opera based on Stephanie S. V. Lucianovic and Vashti Harrison's beautiful children's book Hello, Star. You can read them here:

• Victoria Looseleaf, SFCV 
• Lisa Hirsch, SF Chronicle

I saw the last of three performances of Hello, Star and I was charmed and delighted by the work and the performance. Jarrod Lee created a wonderful libretto from a very short picture book and Carla Lucero's score was just about perfect: beautiful and so suggestive of the cosmos. Between the two of them, the opera is singable, absorbing, suitable for the young singer performing the role of Celeste, with lovely choral writing.

Lucero and Lee did a brilliant job with a small ensemble, an amateur chorus, a child singer in a major role, and a short length. The opera has all the wonder of the book.

The singers were all terrific; the chamber ensemble sounded bigger than it was. And L. Peter Callender's direction was great, working on a tiny stage and making every look, every gesture, every movement count. The costumes, by Alia Brown, were lovely; Giulio Cesare Perrone's two-side set was clever and also charming. 

Here's the cast:

• Christabel Nunoo, Adult Celeste
• Aniyjah Garrett, Young Celeste
• Aisha Campbell, Mother/Trainer
• Bradley Kynard, Big Star

Congrats to all; I wish I could have seen this more than once, and I hope that Hello, Star will receive many more performances.