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SITE RATING:  1/10 SITE REVIEW:  Another attempt to make Messiah "palatable" to the masses, the Calvary Temple church in Winnipeg, Canada presents Handel's oratorio as a modern-day passion-play, with actors, sets, and costumes - oh, and a hefty helping of evangelical earnestness.  If you can get over the pronunciation of Messiah as "Muzziah", the leaden tempos and brick-like playing, and the amateurish singing, then perhaps you might enjoy this lengthy video... but I doubt it.  The orchestra is teeth-grindingly out-of-tune and plays with leaden grace; the toothy tenor soloist has a nice tone, but spreads his vowels to a distracting degree; the shepherd and shepherdess-coiffed choir sings like ...well, like a normal church choir, with wispy tenors, booming basses, wobbly sopranos, and heavy altos; the bass soloist (adorned with one of the worst toupees in recorded history - it looks like a stuffed poodle) is one of the worst Messiah soloists I've ever heard, chewing his way through his melismas with all the aplomb of a past-his-prime Vegas showman.  The mezzo-soprano sings with a pleasant, unchallenging tone, but is undercut throughout by the horrid playing of the orchestra.  This howlingly bad performance is made all the worse by the earnestness of everyone involved - is apparent that they believe they are presenting something worthwhile, when all this video really deserves is an encore appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

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