Premiered in 1675 as a concert work, until now, Alessandro Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista has never been staged. Cue INseries, always striving to do something new and daring, starting their “IN Principio” season of premieres not only with a staged version of this work, but in English, with text by by Bari Biern.
New and daring, indeed, is the feeling of this production. On opening night, Artistic, Stage, and Music Director Tim Nelson gave his curtain speech while soprano Hayley Abramowitz as Herodiade smoked leisurely on set. The Theater Alliance venue is small, with a thrust stage and no curtain, so the audience felt very, very close to the action. Adding to the immersive feeling was the set design by Joshua Sticklin. Instead of going for a traditional Biblical setting, Sticklin opted for a, frankly, gorgeous 1970s home living room, complete with vintage TV that, when not turned off, showed a static screen as Salome (Dawna Rae Warren) watched, mesmerized.
Despite the 20th-century set design, somehow Stradella’s score did not feel out-of-place. It is a beautiful baroque score, played perfectly by 12 instrumentalists, including Nelson on harpsichord and as music director, and sung flawlessly by the cast. I heard not one note out of place the entire evening and was able to enjoy them showing off with surgically precise coloratura and, at times, luxuriously languorous straight tone. Furthermore, Nelson’s staging added to the music by being appropriately dance-like. The actors moved with the music and baroque dance rhythms, even when shaking cocktails, as in one particularly memorable moment.
The plot opens with St. John (Daniel Moody) in the wilderness, bidding farewell to the place he has lived and preached so that he can go and try to set Herod straight from his life of sin, living in a way that is contrary to his nature and how God intended. Moody has the kind of countertenor voice that’s just right for this role – light and feathery in a good way, giving off an innocence and sincerity appropriate to the character. The only thing Stradella could have done to let the singer of this role show off more would have been to give more opportunity for indulging in chest voice. Toward the beginning of the show there is one moment that allowed us to hear a little bit of that from Moody, and I wanted more.
The rest of the action took place at Herod’s home as preparations took place for his birthday celebration. For a long time, however, Herod never spoke. His wife Herodiade clearly wanted to run the show and be the center of attention, and she dominated the scene both physically and vocally, treating her daughter Salome as a puppet or doll, even mouthing the words that Salome sang at one point. Abramowitz’s singing was gorgeous, and it must be said that, in addition, Oana Botez’s costume design made the character feel every inch the queen that she is, with lots of gold hues to admire. Beyond their vocal performance, Abramowitz’s acting took the prize for the night, making the audience feel truly disturbed as Herodiade derived sexual pleasure from watching the Counselor (Gregory Sliskovich) decapitate St. John.
The twist with this production came once St. John arrived at the family home. It became apparent that, in this interpretation, instead of St. John being there to admonish Herod for his illicit relationship with his brother’s wife, the real reason St. John feels the need to step in is that he and Herod were once lovers and St. John was feeling spurned. Herod’s “nature” St. John referred to toward the beginning turns out to be the fact that he is gay. While creative, in my opinion this reinterpretation was not necessary to tell the story and fundamentally was not Christ or Christianity-centered, which misses the point of the story. Beyond that, this is a powerful story without twisting it to an interpretation that is without evidence. Is there anything to suggest that either St. John or Herod were gay and in a relationship with each other? No, and their romance in this production detracted from the power of the story because it supposed that St. John was focused on something earthly when really he was focused on something much greater than himself. It also detracted from Herodiade’s character because it left the audience wondering why she cares. St. John seemed not at all adamant that her marriage was illegitimate but rather more focused on being a spurned lover, and Herodiade seemed more interested in the Counselor than in Herod. Perhaps she just wanted everyone all to herself?
Having said that all of that, I cannot emphasize enough the overall quality of this production. And, despite disagreeing with the reinterpretation, I give INseries full credit for producing works that challenge us. Not only that, but I never once felt bored during the show, even with the da capo arias that can be repetitive. The entire cast had moments to shine and, acting-wise, everyone was engaged the entire time.
The only applause during the show on opening night went to Dawna Rae Warren as Salome. This was well-earned, not only because of the length of the huge scena she tackled with seeming ease, including going into her chest voice and giving maniacal laughter, but also because of her commitment to her character’s insanity. From the beginning, this Salome came off like Wednesday Addams, complete with pigtails. It left me wondering how old she was supposed to be, but in the end it didn’t matter, because through her mother’s machinations she still managed to get Herod to have St. John executed. I also adored the moment in the score right after she goes insane where the music changes completely and she has to suddenly shift from raging to pleading.
Rounding out the cast, Gregory Sliskovich felt appropriately slimy as the Counselor, and Andrew Adeslberger as Herod felt powerless. In fact, it felt strange that Herod in this interpretation regretted granting Salome’s request for St. John’s head, because he should be completely under her spell.
In summary, this was a well-performed, great-looking-and-sounding, risky reinterpretation of St. John’s story that didn’t ultimately make sense dramatically, but was a joy to hear musically. I look forward to seeing the other premieres that INseries has to offer this season.
Maggie Ramsey
St John The Baptist
by Alessandro Stradella
New English Text by Bari Bern
Cast and Production Staff:
St John – Daniel Moody; Herod – Andrew Adelsberger; Herodiade – Hayley Abramowitz; Salome – Dawna Rae Warren; Counselor – Gregory Sliskovich
Instrumentalists – Rasa Browder, Keats Dieffenbach, Zoe Kushubar, Paula Maust, John Moran, Rebecca Nelson, Timothy Nelson, Leslie Nero, Alexa Pilon, Jessica Powell Eig, Cameron Welke, Asa Zimmerman
Stage and Music Director – Timothy Nelson; Costume Designer – Oana Botez; Costume Coordinator – Rakell Foye; Set Designer – Joshua Sticklin; Lighting Designer – Yannick Godts; Stage Manager and Lightboard Operator – Mikayla Talbert; Technical Directors – Jonathan Dahm Robertson and Josh Lucas; Production Managers – Samba Pathak and Isabella Tapia
Theater Alliance, Washington, D.C., October 2, 2025
Top image: (L to R) Andrew Adelsberger as Herod, Hayley Abramowitz as Herodiade, Daniel Moody as St. John the Baptist, and Gregory Sliskovich as the Counselor.
All photos by Bayou Elom.