Opera Revue teamed up with Opera Atelier for a show called Trills, Chills and Thrills at the Redwood Theatre on Sunday evening.  The usual gang of Danie Friesen, Alex Hajek and Claire Harris were joined by tenor Ben Done and mezzo Kathryn Rose Johnston for a programme of opera arias and musical theatre numbers that (sort of) turned the plot of Handel’s Acis and Galatea (OA’s upcoming show) into a murder mystery.

There was music on spooky themes by Britten (Turn of the Screw), Schubert, Handel (of course), Corigliano (Ghosts of Versailles), Lloyd Webber (Phantom, natch), Verdi and more.  It was glued together by a narrative in which the mermaid/nymph Galatea is murdered and despite being turned into sushi her ghost returns to wreak its revenge.  And there was one of the dances from Acis and Galatea (Julia Sedwick and Eric da Silva).

There was a costume competition too and some people had really gone for it… like the guy with an axe in his head and there were displays of OA costumes and props.  And the Redwood has a pretty good bar (several Black Lab beers on tap) and the turn out wasn’t bbad at all for Sunday on Thanksgiving weekend.

The singing was very good indeed, the playing too (of course) and the “acting” was not inappropriate except where it was inappropriate.  Good fun all around really.