The Flying Dutchman at Des Moines Metro Opera
One thinks of Dutchman as grand opera… How would it come across in a 500-seat auditorium? The answer, at least on July 4, was quite impressively indeed… And Joshua Borths’ staging admirably managed logistics as well as character development.
— Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News
Director Joshua Borths has put his stamp on the staging with great invention. Without spoiling any effect, he staged a pantomime during the overture that cleverly sets up Senta’s obsession with the Dutchman and brilliantly suggests a union of spirits at opera’s end with an assist from the trap door… and on this occasion it was miraculous.
Other than the rollicking scenes where the chorus can overtake the stage, this is quite a talky piece, with long stretches offering limited opportunities for movement. Mr. Borths has solved that by using the layout of the thrust space to keep characters logically moving about so that they play to all sides of the house… Moreover, his crowd movement was masterfully fluid and created shifting, meaningful stage pictures.
—James Sohre, Opera Today
Director Joshua Borths demonstrated keen understanding of Wagner’s symbolic tale. Visual simplicity allowed the emotional undercurrents to percolate. Borths’ decision to show glimpses of Senta’s childhood during the overture was a wise addition. The audience watched Senta’s obsession develop, so when the fated lovers finally met, we understood her motivations. In less capable hands, these characters might come across as one-dimensional, but Borths gave them depth that was refreshing but still true to Wagner’s vision.
—Meghan Klinkenborg, Little Village
Richard Wagner May be the opera composer most associated with epic grandeur: huge orchestras, huger sets. I never imagined I’d hear a full performance of one of his works while sitting just a few feet from the singers…. At the opening of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman in the last week of June, the bass-baritone Ryan McKinny could brood in a murmur as the endlessly wandering captain of the title, while the choruses of raucous sailors were ear-shakingly visceral. It registered when the subtlest Mona Lisa smile crossed the face of Julie Adams as Senta, whose romantic obsession leads her to sacrifice everything for the Dutchman. Try that at the Met.
—Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times
Der Fliegender Holländer, arguably the only offering this season that might qualify as frequently encountered repertory, followed (on July 12). Some may voice surprise at the idea of mounting Wagner in DMMO’s 467-seat theatre, but in fact the work’s accessible, almost bel-canto like structure sat very gracefully in this intimate space… The director Joshua Borths cleverly staged the overture as Senta’s backstory, tracing her trajectory from an infant left motherless by a complicated childbirth into a headstrong, independent young woman with an inexplicable fascination for the legend of the Dutchman.
—Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera Magazine
The Falling and the Rising at Des Moines Metro Opera
Within this site-specific ambience, and assessing the limitations of the venue, director Joshua Borths has fashioned a beautiful, even poetic production, investing it with every possible nuance. There are some shortcomings in the dramaturgy, and Mr. Borths has assessed them and found the best possible story-telling solution. On first viewing, I either did not feel the Soldier was always involved enough in a given stretch, or I wondered if, in her coma, she was actually occasionally some other character, like the Colonel’s dead wife. We might have lost the thread of her illness, except the director created a wonderful piece of stagecraft.
After the Soldier was injured, put on a gurney, and hooked up to an IV, the tube was very long, and wherever she went on stage she remained visually connected to her “condition” by this faux umbilical cord. I also liked the practical Skype displays in the opening scenes. Borths lavished a lot of attention on creating believable yet archetypal characters. He made great use of the cast to change simple set pieces to suggest the different settings, and I especially enjoyed his inventive positionings on the platforms and stairs.
—James Sohre, Opera Today
Joshua Borths staging demonstrated the strength of simplicity. He utilized the small cast in a versatile manner that allowed the audience to focus on each scene, supporting the emotions rather than distracting from them. Borths maintained a narrative thread throughout the Soldier’s journey, stringing the various stories together through her discovery of dog tags across the stage. His creative incorporation of the military props was clever and refreshing. One particularly memorable scene had three of the singers using a parachute to mimic the clouds, evoking the weightless wonder with an otherwise practical piece of equipment. I have to commend Borths for understanding how to let Redler’s and Dye’s emotional opera soar without weighing it down.
—Meghan Klinkenborg, Schmopera
The Barber of Seville at Arizona Opera
You expect to laugh with Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” but we didn’t expect to laugh as much as we did at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Saturday night. Arizona Opera’s uproariously funny new production of “Barber” took the composer’s ha-ha factor to a whole other level courtesy of a supremely talented cast with the comic timing of veteran sitcom actors.
Stage director Joshua Borths exaggerated every comic turn. The chorus danced along as Conductor Roberto Kalb and the orchestra brought out the powerful drama of Rossini's famous overture. Moments into that Act 1 dance, Borths turned on some of the house lights and the chorus looked out into the audience as if they just realized they weren’t alone.
He also had Figaro (the wonderfully voiced and very funny baritone Alexander Birch Elliott) make his grand entrance through the audience and once on stage, as he sang the narcissistic ode “Largo al factotum,” Elliott goaded the audience into joining him in singing the refrain “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro.” The audience happily played along, waving to the chorus in that opening scene, cheering on command and laughing, loudly, throughout.
—Cathalena E. Burch, Arizona Daily Star
The Elixir of Love at Opera Las Vegas
Here kudos must be given to director, Joshua Borths, for his fresh and clever staging. This was most evident in the women’s ensemble number, “Saria possible?”… Their stage entrance by sneaking in and then all heads popping up at once, perfectly synchronized to the orchestration, was purely adorable. And the women looked like they were having a rollicking good time, especially when stuffing their bras with tissue in anticipation of winning Nemorino’s heart. Another standout moment for López, Guidarelli, and Borths was Adina and Dulcamara’s duet, “Io son ricco e tu sei bella.” Some of the staging required a fair amount of athleticism, which looked effortless.
—Gary Hoffman, Opera Today