Carnival Messiah was a huge success first time round. So it was always likely that this updated version of Handel would return, reports Charles Hutchinson

CONSIDER the facts. Carnival Messiah has 100 performers from the worlds of theatre, opera, dance and masquerade, some international, others local. They require 700 costumes, some winged wonders more than 20 feet high. Not to be worn on the streets but indoors, in the Quarry Theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.

Geraldine Connor, who has conceived, directed and adapted the show, knows it can work. After all, it did so in its 1999 premiere at the Playhouse, and its revival was always as likely as the return of Singin' In The Rain, the Playhouse's biggest Christmas hit.

Is it a risk bringing back Carnival Messiah, Connor's burst of summer sunshine in the form of a re-invention of Handel's oratorio?

"I suppose artists are known for their stupidity and flamboyance, and you know when you dream and you want to do it, and the reality is quite different?" says Geraldine her questioning tone upended by a booming laugh.

"Well, we have some different people and that brings a new dynamic...and we know what we're doing this time! Last time it was just coming out of my head."

For a show that 'didn't know what it was doing', Carnival Messiah was a mighty, spectacular, high-fives-all-round success. "In my heart and head, I knew that if I could get my message out on stage, it would be a success, but I could only hope that people would think like me: that this show was like nothing anyone had done before.

"This piece of work has its own power, and now people have great expectations, and that's daunting, but we're going to do our very best to meet all those expectations," says Geraldine, with absolute conviction, rather than in hope. Hence the far shorter rehearsal period, five weeks rather than the three months in 1999.

Geraldine, an artistic director, composer and academic now on secondment as Associate Director (Music) at the Playhouse from the University of Leeds, has assembled a creative team and cast of equally impressive stature. Desmonds star Ram John Holder, international poet Jean 'Binta' Breeze, Trinidad Calypso singer Ella Andall and international opera singer Ann P Fridal all return. So does costume and masquerade designer Clary Salandy, who co-ordinated 5,000 'masqueraders' in Notting Hill Carnival's contribution to The Queen's Golden Jubilee parades.

The revival is supported by the Spirit of Friendship Festival, a national celebration of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the Golden Jubilee.

"Now I would like Carnival Messiah to see the light of day elsewhere. I want it to be taken up commercially. It could be done by a professional cast of 50, like Carmen Jones. That's why I want to give it a second chance now," says Geraldine. "I wish for producers to come and be imaginative, and if they can't see its potential, at least give me the opportunity to show them how it could be done."

Like several costumes in the show, Carnival Messiah has wings. Now maybe all it needs is 'angels', the money backers of theatre, to give it a chance to fly beyond Leeds.

Carnival Messiah, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, from June 22 until July 27. Box office: 0113 213 7700.

Updated: 09:48 Friday, June 21, 2002