(Above: Scene from rehearsal for Eugene Opera’s Acis and Galatea; photo courtesy of Eugene Opera.)
By Randi Bjornstad
This is not your grandmother’s opera.
True, it does rely on the music of George Frideric Handel, who bridged the 17th and 18th centuries and lived the first half of his life in Germany and the last half in England, where he died in 1759, having written more than 40 operas as well as copious numbers of operas, concertos, and oratorios — think The Messiah.
But Eugene Opera’s production Acis and Galatea has a much broader appeal, adding elements of 1950s movies and visitors from Outer Space to the classical opera form.
Here’s the description, as Eugene Opera sees it:
Our story follows Galatea, a famous film celebrity goddess, on holiday with her rising film star lover Acis, in a small town in the Chianti region of Italy.
They find themselves chased by paparazzi in a town populated by a colorful ensemble of characters. All seems well until the evening of the movie premiere on the town square. Just as the movie zooms in on an image of an alien emerging from his ship, the monster/alien Polyphemus jumps off the screen, shocking the audience.
Is the movie really happening or are the actors just actors playing out the movie’s finale? Anything could happen late at night in Italy…
The production is directed by Patrick Hansen, who is professionally a specialist in Baroque music (hence the Handel connection), but who also loves classic Italian movies such as Under the Tuscan Sun and A Roman Holiday, weird romance/fantasy à la Edward Scissorhands, and any number of old black-and-white horror films about aliens invading earth.
As Hansen explained his approach to Acis and Galatea, as reported by Eugene Opera, “Handel’s operas give a great deal of flexibility for forming new stories while supporting the underlying emotions of the characters and their stories.”
The main characters include Terrence Chin-Loy as Acis and Camille Ortiz as Galatea, with Tim McCoy as Damon and Benjamin Brady as Polyphemus.
Andrew Bisantz conducts.
Eugene Opera presents Acis and GalateaÂ
When: 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, May 19-20, 2023
Where: Wildish Community Theater, 630 Main St., Springfield
Tickets: $30 to $75; $15 for students in sections A, B, and C; available online at eugeneopera.org or wildishtheater.com
The stars of Eugene Opera’s Acis and Galatea
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