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Engrossing fare
THE MADRAS Festival or December Season as it is better known, is upon us and so are Christmas carols and concerts. In the first major Christmas programme for this year in the city, Mellow Circle, the year-old organisation, presented a musical play, "The Fourth Wiseman" on November 24 and 25 at the Museum Theatre.
The most well-known and often anthologised of T.S. Eliot's poems is "Journey of the Magi". The story of the three wisemen from the East bringing gifts to Baby Jesus in Bethlehem is not new. But not so common knowledge is the account of the fourth aspirant, Artaban, written by Henry Van Dyke. Artaban, a man of medicine, set out with three precious gems and he gave them away in situations akin to the Good Samaritan parable.
Though he does not get to see Jesus in person, the purpose is accomplished even in its very denial. For the Lord said "What you do unto the least of these is done unto me".
Adapting this story into a play and punctuating the storyline with 15 songs, Mellow Circle came up with its own brand of a musical.
The Mellow Circle has arrived, if the response of the audience was anything to go by. The play began with a crisp introduction by Mini George. The 60-strong choir played the role of the chorus in a cantata or oratorio. It augmented and embellished the idea or scene depicted every time it sang. Astute was the move to cut short many of the songs to a stanza or two, thus leaving the listener longing for more.
The professor of English from the Madras Christian College, Winfred Chelliah, who wielded the baton, did an admirable job. The diction was uniformly good and one could follow the words with ease. He had paid special attention to the dynamics, phrasing, balance and intonation and it showed to advantage.
The only time the choristers stood a little exposed was in the cadences of acapella numbers. The bass line in particular lent good support to the choir, while Vimal, on the keyboard, provided fine accompaniment.
The sure touch of Michael Muthu's direction was evident — the flame in the opening scene; using just a bare wooden cross to suggest Jesus' death at Calvary; dispensing with curtains; and getting children to enact the Nativity Scene.
George Thomas played the protagonist while Thomas Philip was the narrator.
Little Roshan Thomas as the devil stole the limelight with a fine display, though he should have been spared from carrying the "staff" that he did. Sudhin Prabhakar at the audio control contributed a great deal to the success of the show.
In a fitting finale, the concert ended with the choir's rendition of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus".
SELINE AUGUSTINE
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