Opera: Gender-bending Handel at National Sawdust, Brooklyn

Millennial values were in vogue at the Friday performance of Handel’s Aci, Galatea, e Polifermo (1708), an early work by the composer composed during his Roman phase. The work resides somewhere between oratorio and opera, with operatic arias and plot, but without full staging. The recreation in Brooklyn was co-produced by countertenor superstar Anthony Roth Costanzo, known for his edgy risk-taking, including a shaved, nude pharoah in Akhenaten, a Philip Glass opera soon to be seen at the Met. This Handel production was intriguingly cosponsored by National Sawdust (a Brooklyn hipster performing venue known for acoustic, alternative, and world music) and the venerable SF Bay Area Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, a long-established classical early music orchestra and chorus. So its roots crossed from traditional classical music into performance trends and gender/power politics of our own day. This hybrid approach was on full display in Friday’s performance.

The opera tells the story of the shepherd Acis who falls for the sea nymph Galatea. Sadly, Galatea is also loved (and harassed) by the giant cyclops Polyphemus (famed from his later blinding by Odysseus in The Odyssey), who eventually jealously kills Acis. The gods take pity however, and turns Acis into a stream, reuniting with Galatea in the mixing of waters. The opera has only these characters (and an ending chorus, prerecorded in this production), making for a spare, focused concentration on the personal drama of love and abuse. There were some striking gender-bending interpretive choices made for this show. The male shepherd Acis, a castrato in the original, was portrayed by a tall female soprano Ambur Braid, who played the role in a seductively feminine way. The female nymph Galatea was played by male countertenor Costanzo, and in a very sexual male way, especially interesting when the giant Polyphemus (the excellent bass Davóne Tines) paws and seduces him(her). One of Polyphemus’ arias was sung in a bathtub, with very high sighing notes coinciding with the (just out of audience sight) washing of his nether-regions by Galatea, who seemed reluctant at best. The opera was set not in classical glades and forests, but in Polyphemus’ bathroom, which Acis and Galatea were tasked with cleaning, each dressed in identical unisex janitorial garb. This convincingly made Polyphemus’ lechery even more creepy (seduction in a bathroom), and also made for some nice transitions (e.g. Galatea returns to the sea by plunging into the huge bathtub).

All these gender-bending and modern takes on power and sexuality worked well, and kept the 90 minute piece moving right along with good dramatic intensity, helped immeasurably by the fine acting of the three characters, who fully bought into the conception.

Musically the performance was mixed. The three leads all had fine voices and good Baroque style. The bass role Polifemo is particularly remarkable, with a huge vocal range including bizarre special effect leaps (e.g. high A 2½ octaves down to low D) by Handel to express both the character’s stature and his unhinged nature. Listen to this aria from part two for a good idea of this vocal special effect.

The venue was intimate but not ideal for an opera: the auditorium for 150 viewers was set up wide and shallow, requiring the 12 member orchestra to be to the extreme left of the audience, creating both balance issues (I heard a lot of bass and harpsichord) and significant ensemble issues. Several rapid Handel arias ran aground when a singer far stage left could not coordinate with, say, an oboe far stage right. The orchestra used the strumming-enriched continuo ensemble I commented on in ithe Boston Early Music Festival's recent La Carnivale de Venice, including 1-2 theorbos and guitar along with the typical harpsichord and cello, seemingly a growing trend in early Handel. This ensemble played well, and sensitively, without coordination issues. The final problem was the small violin ensemble (3 players), meaning many rapid Handel passages played with 2 on a part, leading to intonation problems that were not helped by the dry acoustic (doubtless created for the normal amplified performances that are most common at National Sawdust). Conductor Clay Zeller-Townson paced the performance well, with bracing tempos and flexible recitative, but should have worked more on the tricky ensemble issues. Overall, this was a bracing evening of topically current musical theater despite the musical distractions (and the squealing hearing aid somewhere in the audience). Countertenor Costanzo is the sort of daring singer and creative force that you should watch for.