MOBY DICK State Opera SA Adelaide Festival Theatre Until 03 Sep 2011 Review by Tony Busch Drop everything and book a ticket to this amazing production before its short season is over this week. “Moby Dick” is a triumph. This epic American novel has been skilfully compacted to a perfect balance ofdramatic action and human frailty, and then beautifully scored to produce a mesmerising evening ofmusical theatre. Forget any preconceptions you might have about opera being a dated or irrelevant artform or any fear that modern opera isn’t easy to listen to. The production values are awesome. Director Leonard Foglia, set designer Robert Brill, projectiondesigner Elaine McCarthy and costume designer Jane Greenwood have created a thoroughly involvingand credible environment that brings the whaler Pequod alive and delivers the scale and epic dimensionneeded to make the drama work. Scene transitions are seamless. The two whaling sequences aresuperb as is the hot, harsh setting of rendering the whale blubber, which provides the background tothe confrontation between Captain Ahab and First Mate Starbuck. Jake Heggie’s music is lyrical and captivating and his orchestrations sublime, ranging from thetranslucent delicacy of plankton to leviathan climaxes. Gene Scheer’s libretto delivers not just a cohesivestory but ample character development too. The cast is uniformly brilliant. Jay Hunter Morris is a driven Captain Ahab, a charismatic leader of men whose obsession with the whitewhale who took his leg brings disaster. It is a commanding performance. He is perfectly matched by Grant Doyle as Starbuck, the lone voice of reason. His is a superb portrayalof a man caught in the cross-hairs of someone else’s fate and his Act 2 duet with Ahab is a highlight. James Egglestone sings Greenhorn with warmth and sincerity and a beautiful legato line. JonathanLemalu is a mighty Queequeg. Byron Watson as Stubbs, Adam Goodburn as Flask and Douglas McNicolas Captain Gardiner all contribute wonderful performances. Lorina Gore makes a winning Cabin Boy,Pip, and her scene lost at sea is chilling. The Chorus exceeds its usual impeccable standards with a particularly rich and lustrous sound. Indeed,the choruses are some of the highlights of the piece. Conductor and Chorus Master Timothy Sexton is in total control of the brilliant Adelaide Symphony andextracts every nuance of musical colour from the score. Bravo to all who had a hand in co-commissioning this work with the Dallas, San Diego, San Franciscoand Calgary operas. It’s a production that all South Australian’s should be immensely proud of and onethat no musical theatre lover should miss. So book a ticket now.