Theater Review - Operatic proportions

Desdemona, the doomed spouse of jealous Othello, has lived in incarnations both in a Shakespeare tragedy and a Verdi opera. Susan Botti’s Telaio: Desdemona, described as an “operatic soliloquy,” combines theater and opera to view the role from yet another perspective.

Having its Southeastern premiere at Emory University March 23-24, Telaio: Desdemona draws on both the language of Shakespeare with arias based on Italian folk songs and the verse of Renaissance poet Gaspara Stampa. The word “telaio” refers to a frame for weaving in Italian, and Botti’s composition interweaves Italian arias in Desdemona’s voice with spoken English recitatives taken from Shakespeare’s speeches about the character from the point of view of Othello, Iago, Cassio and Desdemona’s father. Botti attributes her interest in a Desdemona character study to work with Emory theater studies professor Tim McDonough in Boston.

Renowned singer Botti both narrates and sings the one-woman piece, which was commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and premiered at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in January 2000. Botti will be accompanied by the string quartet Cuarteto America, pianist Daniel Kirk-Foster, percussionist Michael Lipsey and harpist Victoria Drake, under the direction of Kimberly Grigsby (conductor for The Full Monty on Broadway).

Telaio: Desdemona plays March 23-24 at the Mary Gray Munroe Theater, Dobbs University Center, 605 Asbury Circle, at 8:15 p.m. $20, $10 for Emory students. 404-727-5050.??