REVIEWS:

“Des Moines Metro Opera’s unsurpassingly ravishing production of Karol Szymanowski’s King Roger has joined the ranks of the finest performances I have ever experienced…Scenic designer Jimmy Stubbs has devised no end of mind-blowing visual effects. The ornate church interior of Act I included choristers as “statues” of saints perched on pedestals midway atop pillars, an elaborate throne, candelabras, and an ornate altar with columns that rises majestically from the trap. Act II devolves into a period cocktail party with scaffolding and  iron gates, while Act III strips all trappings away, with only a ruined, upturned throne left down center, and a black platform up center, underscoring Roger’s moral condition. And then. . .it magically rains a purifying rain after which a giant white sun rises, framing Roger as he ponders all that has been revealed to him. Jaw-dropping and masterful, indeed.” — James Sohre, Opera Today

“The true star of the opera was the production itself…The scenery and lighting designs by Jimmy Stubbs and Connie Yun, respectively, were breathtaking, particularly in the opulent first act. The gilding gradually stripped away as the opera progressed until Roger was left in a barren landscape with an overturned throne. Natural elements were crucial to the opera’s visual language. Smoke poured from a giant thurible. Water rained down as dancers crossed the stage. It all made for a powerful assault on the senses that drew the audience in.” — Meghan Klinkenborg, Little Village Magazine

“The scenic design by Jimmy Stubbs plays with the dualities of a bare stage to an opulent set in Act 1 alone. As you walk into the theatre, you see a few candelabras and a bare-bones metal throne. If you take the time to look more closely before the show, you get a sense of where the set is going from the ornate detail in the flooring. There is a moment in Act 1 where you see the full set in all its grandeur. The duality continues in his storytelling as we see opulence stripped away in the following acts.” — David Felton, BroadwayWorld

“An immense censer hung motionless over the Iowa stage, illuminated by four standing candelabras and suspended above the pit orchestra. The scale of it was unsettling. For a long moment, these were the only visible objects but then, one by one, members of the chorus filed into the Pote Theatre, their stately procession lending the scene a ritual air. The Archbishop released the censer, and it swung ominously over the orchestra like a pendulum. The chorus launched the opening invocation, ‘Holy, holy!’ as King Roger and his wife, Roxana, entered. An altar rose silently and swiftly from beneath the stage, drawing the audience into a world of anxious mystery where certainty begins to lose its grip.” — Zach Carstensen, Seen and Heard International