After 25 years of operation, Berkeley Opera tonight offered its first
Handel.  It turned the 1718 pastoral masque "Acis and Galatea" into a
contemporary beach party, where nymphs and shepherds are babes and dudes,
but that didn't matter.

Back in the 18th century, the combined talents of John Gay, Alexander
Pope and John Hughes produced a poetic, but static libretto from a
"Metamorphoses" chapter.  Galatea, a sea nymph (Saundra DeAthos), loves
the shepherd Acis (Harold Gray Meers), and eventually helps to resurrect
him as a god after the monster Polyphemus (Jeffrey Fields) kills him.
End of story.

What's important about "Acis and Galatea" is its gorgeous, melodic,
memorable music.  As long as the stage direction doesn't interfere with
it, you can have all the surfboards and hamburger grills on stage the
director wants.  And the good part, the music, prevailed tonight, in
a memorable way.

In a quarter century, Berkeley Opera hasn't come close to the orchestral
performance that graced Handel tonight.  In his opera debut, Berkeley
Symphony's George Thomson conducted a vital, well-balanced, affecting
performance.  With a chorus of five (!) and an elite orchestra of 15,
Thomson brought the music accompanying Acis' death to such excellence
and emotional impact that eyes were glistening all around the Julia
Morgan Theater.

That miniscule chorus sounded a bit thin in Act 1, but in the finale
(hanging from the lifeguard's tower), the singers were quite wonderful.
Linh Kauffman, Elizabeth Eastman, Gary Ruschman, Alec Jeong and Raymond
Granlund blended their voices with the orchestra for an unforgettable
finale (even as the principal singers were getting soaked, but more
about later).

The orchestra included several members of the Philharmonia Baroque,
which a couple of years ago took "Acis and Galatea" to Lincoln Center,
conducted by Nicholas McGegan.  Thomson's concertmaster was Carla Moore,
leading four first and four second violins, a single viola (Michelle
Dulak), a cello (Farley Pearce), a bass (Michel Taddei), a bassoon (Yeh
Chou), Gonzalo Ruiz as the principal oboe, Louise Carlslake as the first
recorder, and Jonathan Davis, harpsichord.

The four principal singers were uniformly strong: DeAthos and Meers, the
title characters, sang effortlessly, with fine projection, good diction.
Fields, as the weight-lifting, sand-kicking monster, was impressive.
Erin Neff, as Damon, had a tentative start, but built her role well to
an excellent "Consider fond shepherd."

The beach thing was the responsibility of the director, Mark Streshinsky.
He was assistant to Mark Lamos, whose 2002 New York City Opera "Acis and
Galatea" (a Glimmerglass import) was called by some a Gilligan's Island
episode.  But Streshinsky - a young artist, who has brought some interesting
productions to Berkeley - has created a work of his own, not an extension
of Lamos' work.  One important idea in this production is to focus on
the real-life couple of DeAthos and Meers.  When this young, attractive,
and expecting couple make love on stage, it's both believable and
meaningful within the context of the opera, especially in the Act 1
finale of "Happy, happy, happy, happy we..." They really are.

A false note - one which does interfere with the music - is Streshinsky's
resurrection of Acis under a beach shower, resulting in the happy happy
happy couple getting towel-dried even as they take their bows.  The
director seems to have a problem with finales. It was he who concluded
an otherwise well-directed "Legend of the Ring" only last month with
Loge acting as a sanitation worker, cleaning up the stage, never mind
the twilight of the gods, redemption, and all that jazz.  This time,
instead of Acis becoming a god, Streshinsky has him take a shower. Oh,
well, there is always that musical performance to remember.

For performance schedule, check http://www.berkeleyopera.org.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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