Hair's the thing: Two braided tales of 'Samson and Delilah'

Here's some quirky timing that's too delicious to ignore: Over at the glitzy downtown Ellie Caulkins Opera House this weekend, the Biblical spectacle of Samson and Delilah will unfold with a cast of seasoned opera singers and, in a famous orgy scene, a barely clad group of slithering dancers.

At the same time, squeezed into a new, 260-seat theater 5 miles to the northeast, the Wonderbound dance company and an alt-country ensemble led by Gasoline Lollipops frontman Clay Rose will unveil an updated version of the same story. This one is set in a 1977 East Texas town. And it's called "Sam and Delilah."

Pure coincidence, insisted Wonderbound artistic director Garrett Ammon.

“When I found out Opera Colorado was doing theirs, I thought, 'How funny,'" said Ammon, who dreamt up his setting for the Biblical saga two years ago with Rose. “This was our third project together. We were looking at (the 1970s) as a tumultuous time in history. There was a big fight going on about the ERA” – referring to passage of the women's Equal Rights Amendment.

The pair thought of focusing on the character of Delilah and perhaps bringing her closer to modern times. She may have been a Philistine priestess back in the olden days, but here she's a small-town beautician who becomes “a victim of circumstance” as the battle for women's rights came to town.

According to Ammon, Delilah is just trying to keep up with the store's rent. Her boyfriend, Sam, is the town sheriff, and he's got a case of “toxic masculinity.”

“Sam is an Elvis fan,” said Ammon. “He wears his hair in a pompadour. He is very fond of his hair.”

The original Samson, let's recall, found his legendary strength from his long locks. So hair matters. Are we starting to see a connection?

As Ammon and Rose sketched out their scenario, other key elements crept in linking Wonderbound's Biblical update.

In the original story (and opera), Samson is blinded by the Philistines – while in the update, Sheriff Sam is shot in the eye. The original Samson is bound in chains. Here, the Sheriff is handcuffed to a chair after a group of militant women manipulate Delilah into getting Sam out of their way.

But let's not forget that Wonderbound is a dance company. Since the story is set in East Texas in '77, Rose's music naturally becomes a mix of country and southern rock, with Ammon's movements to match.

“There are plenty of social-dance references,” he said. “We have swing, two-step and line dance. It's all sort of 'Urban Cowboy' (a reference to the John Travolta movie). Those scenes take place at the Cotton Gin, where they dance the night away.”

Scene shift: Speaking of dance, Opera Colorado's production pays serious attention to one of the most anticipated dance scenes in the operatic repertory: Samson and Delilah's exotic Bacchanale – with Camille Saint-Saens' familiar music to match. It takes place in the dramatic final scene, shortly before our blinded hero brings the temple columns tumbling down.

As Samson remains chained, the victorious Philistines celebrate with wine, women, song — and hangovers. Rising from the slumbering revelers next morning, six dancers begin a slow, sensual dance to a melody that gains speed and eroticism. General madness ensues.

At a run-through piano rehearsal in Opera Colorado's studios in southwest Denver last week, the Bacchanale began slowly under the watchful eye of choreographer Rachel Harding. Every sensual gesture, every lifted dancer, every extended limb drew her attention. Its eight intense minutes grew in speed, ending in a blur.

In a follow-up phone conversation, Harding stressed that the dancing was a work in progress.

“There could be changes once I hear the orchestra (the following night, when rehearsals move to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House)," she said. "And Ari might change some of the tempos” — a reference to conductor Ari Pelto. “I like that flexibility.”

The music drove her choreography, she said, particularly its dreamy “lava lampy style,” creating a sense of spontaneity.

This is Harding's seventh collaboration with the company (she'd also danced in earlier productions). A graduate of the University of Colorado, she has deep roots in the Denver dance community, having been a member of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. Those connections helped her hand-pick six solo dancers for the Bacchanale.

Harding's contribution extended earlier in the production as well, back to the first act, when Delilah and her gathered Priestesses engage in a short dance celebrating the arrival of spring. That time, she worked with women of the Opera Colorado chorus, sending them gliding around the stage in easy movements. Another reminder that Samson and Delilah is very much about dance.

Good thing, too, since the production's stage director, Keturah Stickann, has a deep background in dance, having begun her career as a performer in classic and modern dance.

“I had several conversations with Keturah,” Harding said. “We talked easily as director and choreographer.”

Just as she had to turn chorus members into dancers early in the opera, Harding — along with Stickann — brought chorus members into the craziness of the Bacchanale.

“Some chorus members were saying, 'Oh, good – we get to move!' and some said, 'Hey, wait – we're chorus members,' ” Harding recalled with a chuckle. “So I had to see what they were comfortable with.”

As the music at the rehearsal got faster, some chorus members started shimmying and shaking and twirling and extending arms, as instructed. Harding later laughed when reminded that some did not possess dancers' bodies.

“That's fine,” she insisted. “I knew I had to help them with their movements, to have a good feeling in their skin.”

With the final chord and a scream of terror from the chorus, the temple collapses and it all ends badly for Samson. Once he loses his hair, his fate is sealed. As for Sam and his beloved pompadour back in Texas – well, no spoilers here ...