A bilingual rock oratorio eight years in the making will make its world debut at the historic Lorain Palace Theatre next week, blending a live rock band, a 15-piece orchestra, and vocals performed in both English and Spanish. The show, called The Answer Oratorio, tells the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and is scheduled for September 2 at 7 p.m. at the theater, located at 617 Broadway.
According to the Morning Journal, the production is the work of composer, guitarist and songwriter Christina Dupré, who is originally from France. Dupré described the show as essentially a rock band paired with an orchestra, and said the goal was to give audiences the storytelling feel of a musical while relying on the structure of an oratorio. Combining cultures matters deeply to her, she told the paper, and she said she hopes audiences walk away with a message about people from different backgrounds working together.
Dupré, who earned music degrees from The Ohio State University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, has a résumé that stretches well beyond Northeast Ohio. She worked with Word Records in Nashville and has performed for the Pope three times during Catholic World Youth Day celebrations, according to The Villager Newspaper. The Answer traces its roots back to 2011, when an earlier version debuted as a contemporary rock musical during World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, before being staged across Northeast Ohio churches during Lent and eventually redeveloped into the full 15-piece rock oratorio audiences will see in Lorain.
A Lineup Blending Local and International Talent
The Answer Oratorio draws on musicians and artists from both Northeast Ohio and abroad. Vocalist Ernesto Alcántara, who portrays Jesus in the production, brings experience as a performer and worship leader, per the Morning Journal's report. Spanish musician and arranger Paco Aranda, who directs the Conservatory of Music in San Javier, Spain, and has served as music director for national Christian youth events across Spain, helped shape the authentic Spanish musical arrangements woven into the show, according to The Villager Newspaper's earlier coverage.
Akron-born guitarist Neil Zaza also joins the cast. Zaza studied classical guitar at the University of Akron and built an international career reworking classical works by Bach and Mozart into neoclassical rock guitar, having collaborated on albums with members of Van Halen, Journey and Dream Theater, according to his Wikipedia entry. The show's orchestral backbone comes from members of the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Douglas Droste, Director of Orchestral Studies at the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Performing Arts, who has guest-conducted internationally and led more than 30 productions of opera, ballet and musical theater, according to Baldwin Wallace University. Elizabeth Hankins, a music educator who serves as director of orchestral activities for Lakewood Schools and adjunct faculty at Case Western Reserve University, also takes part in the production, per the Morning Journal.
Why Lorain, and Why Now
Staging a bilingual English-Spanish production in Lorain carries particular resonance. Roughly 28.3% to 29.2% of the city's population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, accounting for more than 19,000 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. That figure dwarfs the surrounding region: Lorain County's overall Hispanic population sits at 11.6%, while Ohio's statewide figure is just 5.3%, according to data reported by USAFacts citing Census Bureau estimates — meaning Lorain's Hispanic population is more than five times the state average.
The venue itself carries its own weight in local history. The Lorain Palace Theatre was built in 1928 without a balcony, a design choice that followed the devastating 1924 tornado that tore through downtown Lorain and collapsed the balcony of the nearby State Theater, killing 15 people, according to Wikipedia. On its opening night, the Palace became the first theater in Ohio to show a talking movie, and it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Ticket Proceeds Will Support Adult Literacy
A portion of the proceeds from The Answer Oratorio will support Seeds of Literacy, a Cleveland-based nonprofit that provides free, personalized education to adults, per the Morning Journal. The beneficiary organization serves more than 1,000 adult learners annually through roughly 250 to 300 volunteer tutors, and its students achieve an 87% pass rate on official GED exams, well above Ohio's statewide average pass rate of 67%, according to the National Literacy Directory.
The need the nonprofit addresses is significant. Research from Case Western Reserve University's Center for Urban Poverty and Social Change found that 66% of adult residents in Cleveland are functionally illiterate, reading or performing math below a fourth-grade level, and that adults without a high school diploma earn 42% less than graduates, according to Cleveland Magazine.
Tickets and additional information for The Answer Oratorio's Lorain debut are available at www.theansweroratorio.com. It remains unclear whether the production has any tour dates planned beyond its September 2 world premiere at the Palace Theatre.
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