L’étoile Magazine
Todd O'Dowd
“one of the most sumptuous and startling productions I have ever seen Minnesota Opera attempt. From its first images of the shifting projected mountains to simulate the drive to the Overlook Hotel, this is one of the most ambitious physical productions in the company’s history and the risks they take pay off big time; creating some gorgeous stage pictures and some genuinely terrifying moments"
Wall Street Journal
HEIDI WALESON
“Minnesota spent some real money on the production: Erhard Rom’s detailed set cleverly created not only the Overlook’s grandeur and emptiness, but intimacy with smaller rooms that slid on and offstage.”
TWIN CITIES pioneer press
ROB HUBBARD
“I can’t recall an opera in which the villain is a building. But that’s the case with The Shining”
“And what a building it is. Thanks to the inspired intersection of Erhard Rom’s stately set and the swirling, spooky projections of 59 Productions….. The Shining is an unqualified success”
Classical Music
by Jay Gabler
“If there's ever a show where the setting is its own character, it's this one, and the infamous Overlook is realized as a striking (so to speak) set by Erhard Rom, elements sliding aside as the characters penetrate more deeply into the hotel's dark heart. The eerie Room 217 literally glows with menace; lighting designer Robert Wierzel uses heavenly glows to fiendish effect.”
Musical America - Thomas May “Production values were excellent across the board. Erhard Rom’s dazzling, readily reconfigurable sets capture the Overlook’s sprawling elegance and, at the same time, its claustrophobia.”
Talkin’ Broadway - Arthur Dorman “the physical production is ingenious”
Star Tribune- MICHAEL ANTHONY “eye-filling multimedia production” “The production Simonson and his team put together can only be called brilliant"
SHARPS & FLATIRONS
Peter Alexander
"The Shining received a stunning production that realized the full potential of the score.”
“Minnesota Opera’s production is a dazzling tour de force. The beautiful projections that place the actors on a mountain road and beside a peaceful lake are impressive enough, but even more impressive are the scenes in the hotel, with a combination of atmospheric projections that heighten the mood and sliding units that shift (almost) seamlessly from room to room.”
OPERA NEWS Joshua Rosenblum
“Director Eric Simonson’s imaginative, kaleidoscopic production gives a sense of the Overlook’s threatening vastness. Through the effective integration of animated projections (by 59 Productions), sliding sets (by Erhard Rom), and cleverly deployed scrim effects, the hotel itself becomes the prime malevolent force in the proceedings. Costume designer Kärin Kopischke populates the stage with a rogue’s gallery of creepy revelers in the ballroom scenes, and Robert Wierzel’s haunted-house lighting is spot-on……..watching Vega’s Danny step slowly toward the bathtub with the drawn curtain in the forbidden room 217 was as riveting as anything I’ve ever seen in a theater. What a wonderful thing to be able to say about a new American opera. “
MN Playlist
“Of course, one of the most important roles in The Shining is entirely non-verbal, that of the Overlook Hotel itself. Erhard Rom’s production team has created a memorable, elegantly appointed set that captures the spirit of a grand estate sliding into obsolescence. A clever arrangement of self-contained, movable rooms allows the action to shift effortlessly from lobby to bedroom to pantry as sets are wheeled on and off stage…….. this is a worthy production propelled by majestic design, full-bodied performances and impressive ambition”