The federal Ketchup Advisory Board should be pleased: production frequency
for Handel's "Alcina" is similar to the flow of their product.  As Ogden
Nash put it (about ketchup, not Handel), "You shake and shake and shake
the bottle, first none comes, then the lot'll."

Honestly now, when did you last see "Alcina"? Sure, in the decades after
1735, she showed up, but lately, especially in the US, nada.  Comes 2002
and in San Francisco, a lot'll.

Donald Pippin's Pocket Opera revived its 1974 "Alcina" on Sunday.

The Stuttgart Opera's recent production is coming out on DVD this month.

The San Francisco Opera, now headed by former Stuttgart co-director, Pamela
Rosenberg, is bringing that production, including most of the cast, into
the War Memorial in November.

I wonder if the SF Opera's vast resources can succeed in improving
on Pippin's three-penny version in Temple Emanu-El, an impressive
demonstration that talent and passion will win out in the end.  Unlike
his rather awkward "semi-staged" version of "La Rondine" and other operas
recently, Pippin here went back to the tried-and-true concert presentation,
wisely saving the trouble of presenting repeated transformation of a whole
island.  Six singers, with score in hand, the Pocket Philharmonic of a
string quartet, two oboes and Pippin on the harpsichord - c'est tout and,
truly, c'est bon.

"Alcina" has a mother lode of musical gold, but it "tough Handel" and even
the Pocket faithful first failed to fill the small Martin Meyer Auditorium
and then departed in large numbers as the opera unfolded, however well it
was performed.  Will SFO fill 3,000 seats, SEVEN times?

Cut by more than an hour by eliminating a minor character, some repetitions
and all recitatives, "Alcina" still runs three hours, including two brief
intermissions.  Pippin substituted his inimitably droll narration for the
dialogue, moving the story forward delightfully.

The story of "Alcina" desperately needs both being moved and, more,
illuminated by Pippin's wit and psychological insight.  Still, the
Stuttgart way of putting the characters into tuxes and cocktail dresses,
have them grope and hit and shoot each other - that's not it.  For more
on that, see below.

"Alcina" is a kind of companion piece to the much more popular "Ariodante,"
the two operas taking episodes from Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso," "Alcina"
using the sixth and seventh cantos of the great phantasmagorical epic.  The
title character rules over an island, populated by animals and vegetation
all of which are transformed ex-lovers of the sorceress with big appetite
and no merci.

As in "The Tempest," various characters show up on the island, disguised,
transgendered, seeking and despairing.  Everybody falls in love with the
wrong party.  The great hero Ruggiero (sung by a mezzo) fails to recognize
his lady love, Bradamante (dressed as a man) even after she reveals herself
in two recitatives and several, increasingly angry, arias.  When finally
she proves her point (sort of) by partially undressing, Pippin commented
that this could give ideas to some contemporary directors.  Apparently,
Pippin has been too busy to see regietheater operas, which need absolutely
no excuse for undressing and stuff.

There may be far more profit in conveying the sense of Aristo's poetry,
which creates sheer beauty from even a dental chart:

"As if between two vales, which softly curl,/The mouth with vermeil
tint is seen to glow:/Within are strung two rows of orient pearl,/Which
her delicious lips shut up or show./Of force to melt the heart of any
churl,/However rude, hence courteous accents flow:/And here that gentle
smile receives its birth,/Which opes at will a paradise on earth." Isn't
that more sexy than grope-bang-shoot?

There is no need to disclose more of the story, but you may want to
know that it includes some colorful aborted transformations, such as
Alcina toying with the idea of turning Bradamante into a mongoose (which,
I thought, was known only in India at Handel's time) and, in wanting to
become an ocean wave herself.  As in "Hansel und Gretel," all the former
humans are restored in the end.

For the first time in my experience, here was a uniformly superb Pocket
Opera cast, without a weak link, and with two sopranos SFO should be
lucky to have - Karen Anderson in the title role and Marcelle Dronkers
as Morgana.  Anderson's big, bright sound lacks warmth in her otherwise
impressive upper register, but Dronkers has it all: precision, projection,
intensity, a consistent legato and a vibrato both pleasant to the modern
ear and acceptably Baroque.

Mezzos Elspeth Franks (Ruggiero) and Heidi Waterman (Bradamante) both
managed to go beyond the constraints of a concert performance, acting
through their voices, with small gestures.  Franks has an unusually bright
soprano top to a genuine mezzo voice.  Waterman has gorgeous middle and
low notes, but minor problems with agility in the higher range.

Tenor Baker Peeples and bass Stan Case did well with the roles of Oronte
and Melisso (the latter cut to near-insignificance in the opera against
its prominence in the poem).

Except for a beautiful cello obbligato in the third act by Teressa
Adams, the Pocket Philharmonic was not at its usual best.  The violins,
especially, ranged between inadequate and unidiomatic.  Some of the blame
must go to Pippin, who is modest to a fault, and in his self-effacing ways,
he planted himself upstage at the harpsichord, behind and singers and,
worse, behind the band.  For his frequent comments, he walked downstage,
then returned to his seat, breaking continuity and concentration each time.
As a result, there were serious entrance and intonation problems.  It's
amazing what havoc a small logistical error can create.

The DVD of the Stuttgart production (Arthaus, EuroArts) has no musical
problems, only visual pollution/distraction, with piles of broken furniture
and pointless/puzzling/attention-dividing objects.  The singers are made to
move constantly, so they push, pull, pace, run, jump, grope, throw objects
at each other.  For this, they had TWO dramaturges.

Roy Goodman conducts, Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito are the directors;
sets and costumes by Anna Vielbrock.  This is the same production team
that's coming to San Francisco, with the addition of Anna Viebrock as
production designer.

There is good news about the cast, also duplicated between the videotaped
production and the one due here in November (making their local debut):
Catherine Naglestad (the superb, vocally-theatrically stunning Alcina),
Alice Coote (Ruggiero), Catriona Smith (Morgana), Helene Schneiderman
(Bradamante), Sarah Castle (Oberto) all sing exquisitely, under the same
impossible staging conditions San Francisco got a taste of at the SF Opera
Center's "La finta giardiniera."

Bernhard Schneider is the Stuttgart Oronte, the role to be sung by Toby
Spence here; Michael Ebbecke is the Melisso on the DVD, David Pittsinger
has the role in San Francisco.  A funny note in the sad news about the
staging is that Coote, dressed as a man, looks like a twin brother to
Ian Bostridge.

Janos Gereben/SF
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