OPERA REVIEW : Oddball Triple Bill in Long Beach

By now, 11 years after its inaugural production, Long Beach Opera seems to have carved for itself a place in the national scene. And that place is unique.

What, for instance, could be comparable to the oddball triple bill impresario Michael Milenski is presenting this week, in place of the originally promised (now rescheduled) “Pelleas et Melisande”?

This three-part program, now showing in Center Theater at the Long Beach Convention Center, offers Pergolesi’s frothy intermezzo from 1737, “Livietta and Tracollo,” Stravinsky’s non-sung entertainment, “The Soldier’s Tale” (1918) and Mark McGurty’s recent, dramatic scena, “The Anatole Cycle.”

Not a real opera in the bunch, but a fascinating evening in the operatic theater, nonetheless.

As staged resourcefully by Nancy Keystone and Brian Kulick and conducted vibrantly by Richard Cordova, these pieces worked, dramatically and musically, and gave deep pleasures at the opening Saturday night.

With orchestras of four players, seven players and a single pianist, respectively, they also made aural sense in the 750-seat opera house Milenski likes to use--though the last one, “The Anatole Cycle,” was actually written for a sizable instrumental ensemble. The sound there--even as valiantly played by pianist Vicki Ray--had to disappoint for its lack of color and weight.

Still, McGurty’s wrenching cantata for baritone, narrator and orchestra on poems of grief by Stephane Mallarme, made a strong impact. Written after the death of the composer’s friend, conductor Thomas Michalak, the half-hour piece probes the nature of loss and its attendant furies.

Peter Van Derick, singing in French (Milenski and McGurty wisely eschewed an English translation of the baritone part), gave a powerful, faceted and touching performance of the half-hour work. He was assisted ably by actress Camille Ameen and pianist Ray.

Another impressive baritone, Matthew Lau, dominated the chamber-size performance of Pergolesi’s “Livietta and Tracollo,” given in the English versions of Goldovsky and Cordova.

With soprano Mary Paul, Lau carried out Keystone’s clever but unobtrusive staging smoothly and gave full value to the composer’s demanding and rangey vocal writing. They were helped in no small way by actors Scott Wade, Teresa Jones and Michael Rivkin.

Kulick’s pointed, surrealistic staging and the tight, no-nonsense choreography of Larry Hyman meshed successfully in the Stravinsky work, which was designed, as were the other pieces, by Mark Wendland (scenery), Christine Dougherty (costumes) and Kathy Pryzgoda (lighting).

Ned Bellamy proved a charismatic Devil, Brent Hinkley a three-dimensional Soldier and Ameen the well-spoken Narrator in this vivid reconsideration of Stravinsky’s piece. Christine Kellogg and Aimee Levine (the Devil’s assistants) and Naomi Goldberg (Princess) assisted, effortlessly.

The triple bill will be repeated Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.