 LET’S GET PHYSICAL: Muscle-Max at Someday Lounge.
IMAGE: opera theater oregon |
Opera Theater Oregon does intriguing work. But is it opera?
This question gnaws at the core of Portland’s scrappy young company. One voice of the company announces, “We’re hip! We’re edgy! We Keep Portland Weird!” The more somber voice responds: “Dude, we also perform beautiful music.” The results, on display in OTO’s wild and uneven new production, Muscle-Max , don’t always sound so hot.
There are some basic attributes most sensible people want to see in any musical stage work aspiring to the throne of opera . Beautiful singing, impassioned characterizations, a certain sweep in the sound and surge of emotions might be among them. Little of that is found in Muscle-Max .
Instead, Muscle-Max offers a parade of outrageous ’80s-era leggings and hair, campy dialogue and song lyrics celebrating binges on “Stoli, Cheetos…and lots of reefer,” and strains of Gaetano Donizetti’s score from his not bad 1832 opera The Elixir of Love , as filtered through an amplified chamber trio with wheezy upright piano.
This wholly new creation (book, lyrics and direction by OTO’s Katie Taylor; musical arrangements by Eric Melton) takes interpretive liberties to an extreme. But before purists get up in arms about rewriting opera history, let me be clear: Taylor, who has talent, is not interested in defacing Donizetti’s grave so much as dancing on it. Her cardboard characters from some 1980s Gresham mall are colorfully flat. Dave Nemorino (Zakk Hoyt) is the wiener-slinging hero pining after bracelet-bedecked Adina (Natasha Risotto), who harbors a wet spot for hunky Steve Belcore (Michael Miersma). Marty Dulcamara (Richard Poppino) pimps muscle-bulging supplements to Dave and Steve; Gianetta (Deb Vaughn) is a genial hanger-on, rawkin’ the sideways ponytail.
The considerable demands of Donizetti’s music are beyond most of the young cast, but Risotto’s blooming voice shows promise. Of the rest, baritone Michael Miersma stands out as the hunkiest stud on any Portland stage this week, no question; he has a special talent for modeling cute jogging shorts and a certain fitted vintage KISS tee. Move over, Nathan Gunn!
Lovers of bel canto opera may leave disappointed. Fans of “fringe” performance may leave scratching their heads. But Belcore does give Nemorino a wedgie, and dude, that’s pretty rad.
SEE IT. Muscle-Max , Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., operatheater oregon.com. 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 pm Sunday, Nov. 3-4. $10.
Its simple.....if you want a traditional opera, go see a traditional opera. What Opera Theater of Oregon is doing is by no means traditional....they never claimed to be and that's not why they sold out last week and will likely sell out this week as well. It is what it is; a funny, well-written interpretation of a classic that is beautifully performed by a very talented cast in a cool venue. Make your decisions on that, not on this ill-informed, factually incorrect assessment of the performance.
I would agree that, to a certain extent, reporting on an audience reaction to a work is occasionally called for: especially if that reaction is especially strong (either positive or negative).
Although the performers in "Muscle-Max" were awarded a warm reception at last Saturday night's performance, it was hardly a wall-shakingly thunderous ovation. And you might agree that Portland audiences are so frequently disposed to awarding a standing ovation that the act has become de rigeur.