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OPERA at USC's production of Acis and Galatea will feature a shepherd, who's not sheepish about his love for a sea nymph, and a one-eyed behemoth--on stilts.
An all-student cast will perform the opera, G.F. Handel's 1718 composition about the fleeting and fragile nature of love. In previous years, OPERA at USC productions often have featured music faculty and community professionals in lead roles.
"Acis and Galatea fits well with young voices, and we have the voices to match the parts," said Ellen Douglas Schlaefer, director and director of Opera Studies at USC. "That's exciting. It's the first time I've used all students since I've been at USC. We always have really talented students."
Based on mythological characters from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Acis and Galatea tells the story of Acis, a shepherd who has washed ashore on an island. Acis falls in love with Galatea, a sea nymph who nurses him back to health and immediately falls in love with him.
But the Cyclops Polyphemus loves Galatea, too, and in a jealous rage strikes and kills Acis, whom the gods transform into the River Acis in Sicily.
"It's a passionate opera," Schlaefer said. "It will be interesting, too, as an audience member to hear this music and see how we create a river on stage."
In OPERA at USC's production, the island is somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea, maybe the Aegean. The costumes suggest the 1940s. Polyphemus is a foreigner occupier. And Acis is a freedom fighter.
Acis and Galatea, one of Handel's early works that is not widely produced, is based on the traditions of the English masque, which originated as entertainments performed by amateurs at aristocratic banquets. The libretto is by John Gay, who in 1728 authored The Beggar's Opera.
"A masque is not really an opera. It's not an oratorio. It's somewhere in the middle," Schlaefer said.
Acis and Galatea will feature two students in each of the leading roles. Daniel Gainey and Evan McCormack will sing the role of Acis; Becky Krynski and Krista Wihelmsen will sing the role of Galatea. Shellie Leitner and Kathryn Ward will sing the role of Damon, and Tyrone Wallace will sing the role of Polyphemus.
The ensemble consists of sopranos Ashley Briggs and Bianca Raso; tenors Barry Sharrock, Kohei Toyoda, and Cameron Bell; and baritone Evan Broadhead. Tony Huang, a DMA candidate in music, will conduct, and Jerry Curry, a professor in the School of Music, will play the harpsichord with the all-student orchestra. Musical preparation is by Lynn Kompass, a lecturer in the School of Music.
Anita Tripathi Easterling, an MFA theatre graduate is designing the set, and Paula Peasley Ninestein, also an MFA theater graduate, the costumes. Aaron Pelzek, an MFA theatre student, is designing the lights.
As for Polyphemus singing an 18th-century aria on stilts?
"That's worth the price of admission," Schlaefer said.
10/06
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Evan McCormack, as Acis, and Krista Wilhelmsen, as Galatea, are two of the four students who will perform the title roles in Handel's Acis and Galatea.
