The Atlanta Opera’s “The Shining” intrigues as a compelling tale of the paranormal and family bonds

Mark Gresham | 20 SEP 2023

The status of paranormal research in the United States was at its height when Stephen King wrote his 1977 bestselling horror novel, The Shining.

Purported paranormal phenomena have been a part of folk and popular culture since the dawn of civilization. With the rise of science, supernatural forces or mental processes, such as extrasensory perception, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis, the existence of ghosts and sentient inanimate objects, are typically touted by adherents as outside the scope of scientific explanation.

Nevertheless, since at least the 19th century, parapsychology, which studies the evidence for such phenomena, has taken on some of the trappings of science (for historically explicable reasons). Attempts at scientific-like study of the paranormal were, again, very much in their heyday when King penned his novel, and public interest was legion.

In 1957, the Parapsychological Association emerged as the premier society for those delving into parapsychology and the supernatural. By 1969, it became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

However, criticism of parapsychology grew, leading to the birth in 1976 of what is now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. As time passed, mainstream scientists joined the chorus of criticism, with the National Academies of Science and the National Science Foundation casting doubt on parapsychology’s claims.

In the 21st century, most such studies have turned to private funding as the involvement of universities in such research dwindled, and today, parapsychology often serves as a prime example of pseudoscience, its ongoing pursuit still unable to furnish compelling evidence for psychic phenomena after more than a century of investigation. And yet, the paranormal and parapsychology remain a captivating topic in popular culture.

If for no other reason than that, it’s no wonder that the opera, The Shining, by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell, currently in the middle of its run of performances at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Alliance Theatre, is a hit with Atlanta audiences, so much so that as of this morning The Atlanta Opera announced an extra performance has been added to the schedule on Friday, September 29. Of the now nine remaining performances on the calendar through October 1, as of this writing four have sold out (September 22, 24, 30, and October 1), and the rest have only limited seating available, except for the freshly added date, which is your best shot at a good seat if you don’t already have tickets.

But there are more reasons than that alone to see this co-presentation by The Atlanta Opera and The Alliance Theatre, which hews far closer to King’s novel than Stanley Kubrick’s eponymous 1980 motion picture interpretation. The cast for the September 15 opening night performance was excellent (there are two casts for principal characters which alternate performance dates), and the creative crew has done a bang-up job with brining to life this co-production from San Francisco’s Opera Parallèle, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, and Portland Opera.

Jack and Wendy (Craig Irvin and Kelly Kaduce) in a loving moment. (credit: Raftermen/courtesy of The Atlanta Opera)

At the center of the story is the Torrance family, which in late 1975, takes on winter caretaker roles at Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Jack Torrance (Craig Irvin) is a well-meaning but troubled man with a history of alcoholism and abusive behavior. A writer, Jack aims for family bonding and creative work, but dark secrets lurk. His wife, Wendy (Kelly Kaduce, who created the role for the original Minnesota Opera production), hopes the stay will help re-bond the family and heal their relationships.

The primary catalyst for the story is their son, Danny (Max Walls), who possesses paranormal capabilities referred to as “the shining” by the Overlook Hotel’s cook, Dick Hallorann (Kevin Deas), who perceives this immediately because he also has them but is headed for Florida for the winter while the hotel is closed. He at first urges Danny to go with him to Florida and go fishing, but departs after explaining to Danny about their shared “shining” abilities and urging him to call out if he ever needs Hallorann’s help.

Sharing the Shining: Kevin Deas as Dick Halloran and Max Walls as Danny Torrance (Act I). (credit: Raftermen / courtesy of The Atlanta Opera)

Jack’s obsession with the hotel grows as isolation sets in, leading to paranoia and violence. A blizzard traps the family, and supernatural horrors emerge. Danny’s paranormal abilities only seems to make them stronger and draw them to him. Danny telepathically calls out for help to Hallorann, who arrives to aid the family. Jack, driven to madness but awakened to reality by a touch from Danny, ultimately sacrifices himself to save his family in a final showdown with the story’s true antagonist, the Overlook Hotel itself, filled with ghosts of people who died there by violent means, or perhaps only apparitions that are a collective manifestation of the hotel’s own malevolent spiritual essence, anthropomorphized via the hotel’s boiler-based heating system, an easy metaphor for a human circulatory system. One might even think of the boiler’s overheated explosion at the end of Act II as a fatal cardiac arrest for the demonic hotel.

In the Epilogue, which takes place months later, Wendy and Danny have found refuge in Maine with Hallorann’s support. Danny is fishing. It hearkens back to Hallorann’s original invitation to Danny early in Act I but also connects with another detail in Act II, where the card game Wendy and Danny are playing is Go Fish.

Steam heat: Jack (Craig Irvin) in the midst of the Overlook Hotel’s revealed “circulatory system” of pipes. (credit; Raftermen / courtesy of The Atlanta Opera)

Most impressive among the creative production elements in this presentation of The Shining are the projection designs of David Murakami. As modern as the technology used to portray some of the paranormal phenomena might be, the visual concepts themselves have Gothic roots in 19th and early 20th-century concepts about the manifestation of paranormal phenomena: electrical discharges, bursts of light, and translucent figures that seem to be crossing the borderlines of physical and otherworldly planes.

These concepts still hold sway in popular culture, but their root origins are actually from speculative scientific theories in early classical electrodynamics concerning conundrums scientists faced explaining the nature of electromagnetism and light and how they propagate, such as the postulated existence of an “aethereal plane” (“aether” being a primordial “fifth element” or quintessence in ancient and medieval science), an idea appropriated by paranormal studies. These ideas were in play in 19th century science before Maxwell’s equations, which explain (amongst other things) why electromagnetic radiation doesn’t need any medium such as “aether” or an “aethereal plane” for propagation.

Nevertheless, esotericists and parapsychologists have long held onto these concepts about an an “aethereal plane.” Even today, “ghost hunters” use EMF (electromagnetic field) measuring devices in their attempts detect the presence of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. After all, ghosts fade in and out of that fifth “aethereal dimension,” so their movements into the physical and temporal dimensions must disturb the state of an electromagnetic field and thus be measurable (or so the explanation goes).

In addition to vaguely humanoid ghostly apparitions, Murakami occasionally uses animated imagery of crackling electrical discharges to represent paranormal powers at play, rather convincingly executed from the viewer’s perspective. Electricity itself, after all, has long been viewed as having Promethean capabilities of animating the inanimate (e.g., Frankenstein for one literary example). Paranormal presence is also portrayed by floating, amorphous light patterns, and psychic power as a vivid burst of light, as when Danny touches Jack late in Act II, who Jack is suddenly awakened from his psychotic madness and turns against the demonic Overlook Hotel.

These projected visualizations, combined with the other stage crafts and dramatic direction and acting, leave us with some plausible ambiguity about what is objectively real, what is paranormal, and what is only in the characters’ imaginations. Still, by the opera’s end, the impression leans toward favoring the paranormal over the purely psychological.

None of these are new visual concepts, but Murakami’s fresh implementations of them blended with the scene-to-scene shifts in the set to portray different parts of the hotel (including some simultaneous scenes in dramatic counterpoint), the lighting, costuming, and the cast’s capable singing and acting (guided by stage direction of Brian Staufenbiel), all underscored by Paul Moravec’s transparently orchestrated music (ably performed by The Atlanta Opera Orchestra, led by conductor Timothy Myers) which moves the drama forward but consciously stays out of the way of Mark Campbell’s astute libretto. While borne of the literary horror genre, The Shining is, at its core, a very real-world human story of challenged family relationships, the anxieties of perceived responsibilities, and sacrifices made within them. In short, it is a story about love, which is always a risk.

Do be aware: The Atanta Opera and Alliance Theatre caution that this is a production best suited for mature audiences over 16 years of age, but that seems primarily due to the occasional violence and one repeated word not suitable for polite company or the otherwise easily language-offended. But these are very small concerns in terms of the larger artistic picture. Recommended: go if you can, while a dwindling number of tickets still remain. Even if you’ve never been to an opera before, this is one you likely won’t regret seeing. ■

The Atlanta Opera’s production of The Shining continues through October 1, 2023, at The Alliance Theatre.

EXTERNAL LINKS:

• The Atlanta Opera: atlantaopera.org

About the author:

Mark Gresham is publisher and principal writer of EarRelevant. He began writing as a music journalist over 30 years ago, but has been a composer of music much longer than that. He was the winner of an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for music journalism in 2003.

Read more by Mark Gresham.

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