Reviewed by James Karas
Seeing Acis and Galatea by George Frideric Handel at the gorgeous Elgin Theatre in Toronto is like being handed a bouquet of gorgeous roses by a knight dressed in finery or a beautiful lady in an elegant gown. It is a beautiful opera, a wonderful love story and in the hands of Opera Atelier’s co-artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg it is much more than even that.
It was Handel’s first work in English and was first produced in 1718 and went through numerous changes but its 1732 version seems to have carried the day. There is no agreement as to what it is and it has been called a masque, a pastoral, a serenata and other names but who cares. In the hands of Pynkoski and Zingg it becomes an opera-ballet.
The work is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses and involves the beautiful love of the mortal shepherd Acis (marvelous tenor Antonin Rondepierre) and the demi-goddess water nymph Galatea (superb soprano (Meghan Lindsay). Their pure love is suffused with sexual desire. The beauties of the plain of Arcadia are not enough to cool her love (i.e. sexual desire) and the singing birds “kindle fierce desire” in her. Acis is looking for her and imagines her bathing in crystal fountains. He sees love panting on her breast that swells with soft desire. This is beautiful orgasmic attraction.
The Chorus (The Nathaniel Dett Chorale) steps in to announce Fate’s decree that Acis and Galatea’s love will not last. The cyclops Polyphemus (funny and resonant bass-baritone Douglas Williams) feels the same way about Galatea in an uncouth and barbaric way. We can descent to crude language with him – he is just horny. Damon (tenor Blaise Rantoanina) pours cold water on human passion and even instructs Polyphemus on how to woo Galatea.
Polyphemus does kill Acis and we hear some of the most beautiful grieving by the Chorus and Galatea. Acis is turned into a river god which provides some consolation to Galatea and immortality to her lover.
The arias, duets and recitatives are almost all accompanied by a dozen members of The Atelier Ballet corps dancing in their gorgeous gowns. The singing and music are beautiful enough but the dances, choreographed by Zingg are a significant, added pleasure That is why I say Acis and Galatea is an opera-ballet. The dancing like the singing is exquisite.
Rondepierre and Lindsay sing with delicacy, erotic desire, and passion Douglas Williams is played for laughs. He is a lumbering oaf with primitive sexual urges but manages to provide some laughs before the tragic end of Acis.
About twenty members of the Tafelmusik orchestra are crammed in what passes for a pit and conducted by Christopher Bagan. They produce all the beautiful sounds that Handel composed for them.
The set and costumes by Gerard Gauci enhance the beauty of the production and the result is a delightful night at the opera
Postscript I must add a comment about the opening scene. As the action is about to begin a bunch of goats go across the stge. Okay, they are not real but they have no business being there. Acis is a shepherd, a herder of sheep not of goats. In that case he would be a goatherd. Goats are usually found on mountains and not on the verdant plains of Arcadia where Acis and Galatea live and not, heaven forfend, near Mount Etna in Sicily. I state this with the authority of the only one in the audience who has first-hand experience as a (bad) sheep herder and suggest that in the future the faux pas must be corrected.
__________
Acis and Galatea by George Frideric Handel, presented by Opera Atelier, played from October 24 to 27, 2024 at the Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge Street, Toronto. www.operaatelier.com
James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment