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BY SETH KUBERSKY

Both Intimate Apparel at Orlando Shakes and Opera Orlando’s La Traviata had a lot to say about the transformative power of putting on a costume

Dressing up as someone you’re

not is at the very heart of Halloween, but after over a year of largely living in my pajamas, the best costume I could muster for last weekend’s festivities was Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (I only need to put on a black suit and smug attitude). However, I was more than happy to dress up in a similar fashion for last week’s return of full-cast indoor performances from two of Central Florida’s most significant performing arts companies. And fittingly for the All Hallows season’s final bow, both Intimate Apparel at Orlando Shakes and Opera Orlando’s La Traviata at the Dr. Phillips Center turned out to have a lot to say about the transformative power of putting on a costume.

Before diving into the productions, it’s worth noting that as city-owned venues both the Lowndes Shakespeare Center and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts require all attendees to show either proof of full vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test — along with photo ID — before entering the building. Lest anyone howl about HIPAA, Shakes posts a quote from Gov. DeSantis’ press secretary affirming that such checks are kosher. In addition, everyone except the on-stage performers must remain masked indoors (except while sipping drinks), which made going back to these theaters feel about as safe as possible under the circumstances.

Orlando Shakes’ “Homecoming

Season” started in September with the one-woman play Every Brilliant Thing, and the company has now returned to multiactor shows inside the Margeson Theater with Intimate Apparel by Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright Lynn Nottage. Esther (Lilian Oben) has a successful career creating exquisite undergarments for Manhattan women, with a client list ranging from a socialite (Laurel Hatfield) to a prostitute (Martine Fleurisma), and a quilt stuffed with savings toward her dream of opening a salon. But she’s tired of being nagged about her spinsterhood by her busybody landlady (Trenell Mooring), so when she begins tentative courtships with two unavailable men — a Caribbean construction worker (Chris Lindsay) who woos her with long-distance letters and a nebbishy garment salesman (Adam T. Biner) who shyly seduces her with exotic silks — you know it’s only a matter of time before somebody’s heart gets broken.

This could easily be the setup for a Nora Ephron-esque romcom, except for the fact that Esther is a Black woman in New York at the turn of the 20th century, so race is the subtextual current lurking just beneath her story’s surface, inexorably tugging her potential fairy tale toward a grim reality that’s equal parts O. Henry and E.L. Doctorow. Nottage’s emotionally harrowing script repeatedly emphasizes the universal importance of touch — whether the feel of fabric on flesh or human skin-to-skin contact — as a metaphor for connecting with people whose individuality was historically erased, most strikingly illustrated by projected photo captions reducing this complex heroine to an “Unidentified Negro.”

In lesser hands, Intimate Apparel might come across as manipulative melodrama, but Esther’s indomitable will blazes from Oben’s eyes with an intensity that could burn a hole in the back wall; you can’t help hanging on her every triumph and tragedy, right up to the somber yet satisfying conclusion. Technical elements are equally impactful, as designer Stephen Jones’ revolving triptych set presents a period-perfect platform for costumer Dana Rebecca Woods’ sumptuous couture. My only nitpick is that (at least during the opening act of the preview I attended) the actors tended to yell their lines at the last row of the half-empty auditorium instead of simply speaking to each other, despite wearing microphones; the shouting settled down in the second half, so I trust director Shonn McCloud can nudge this talented cast into the intimacy Nottage’s script demands.

OPERA ORLANDO’S ‘LA TRAVIATA’ WAS A TRIUMPH | PHOTO BY SETH KUBERSKY

It’s unfortunate that Opera

Orlando’s triumphant return to the Dr. Phillips Center for the mainstage kickoff of their “Viva Verdi” 2021-2022 season only ran for two performances, because if more non-opera fans had the opportunity to experience this contemporary reimagining of La Traviata, they might become converts to the art form. In their version of Verdi’s 1853 masterpiece, instead of a tubercular courtesan, Violetta (Cecilia Violetta López) has become a cancer patient running illegal high-stakes poker games, loosely inspired by the real-life convict Molly Bloom (who consulted and provided an audio intro for the production).

The modern-day trappings — highlighted by costumer Ann Louise Piano’s outrageous uptown fashions and director/ designer Grant Preisser’s posh penthouse set — helped make the antiquated social mores that drive the plot somewhat more accessible. But it was Lopez’s passionate lead performance — and the genuine sparks she generated with Victor Ryan Robertson as her star-crossed paramour, Alfredo — that made missing this Traviata a travesty. It’s one thing to simply stand still and belt your way through a big aria; Lopez can hit all the high notes with breathtaking purity of tone, while simultaneously writhing on her deathbed in the fetal position, a remarkable act of both physical strength and emotional vulnerability.

Some purists might have been put off by all the updates. However, if opera’s audience is going to grow, instead of simply aging out of existence, then this is exactly the kind of imaginative dressing up the genre needs more of — especially if Opera Orlando wants to fill up the seats in the nearly completed Steinmetz Hall for generations to come.

skubersky@orlandoweekly.com