Reviews of Concerts in Boston and at Tufts

Director Sam Helfrich’s present-day interpretation of Semele brought the perfect degree of humor and silliness to Handel’s classic opera based on a tale from Greek mythology. The story of mortal Semele’s seduction by Zeus, or Jupiter, and the goddess Juno’s attempts to thwart their love was brought to life with colorful characters and stage direction. Friday night’s premiere at the Cutler Majestic Theater showcased the particular talents of several Opera Boston singers and was enhanced by the sensitive musical understanding of the Boston Baroque Chorus and Orchestra, directed by Martin Pearlman. The orchestra maintained precision and well-honed intimacy with the singers throughout.

The curtain came up on a scene of a wedding banquet, designed to look something like a hotel catering hall, with the despondent bride Semele, sung by Lisa Saffer, curled up on a table, surrounded by her uncertain guests. The wedding is everything mortal; a projected slideshow on the wall shows pictures of Semele and her future husband, Athamas, sung beautifully by contralto Tai Oney, and an EXIT sign glows over the double doors. Semele’s sister, Ino, played by Paula Murrihy, mopes around the room, consumed by her love for Athamas. Murrihy’s firm and rich mezzo-soprano voice contrasted well with Saffer’s more fanciful and bright soprano voice, but did not blend well in their duet.

As Semele sings her love for Jupiter, played by Scott Ramsay, flashes of light and thunder wrack the scene. She sneaks away as the attention of others is drawn to the projector screen, where Jupiter’s face has appeared. The ensuing rendition of Semele’s aria, “Endless pleasure, endless love” was one of the highlights of the production. As the other characters watch on screen, Jupiter turns his video camera from his own face to Semele’s, as she playfully taunts him with coy smiles and coquettish advances. Jupiter enhances the words of her aria with his own lusty gaze, allowing his camera to wander freely over her body. The staging created a split-screen effect, simultaneously capturing Semele and Jupiter’s relationship and the mortal world Semele sings to from above.

The set changed only slightly to recreate Jupiter’s palace in Acts II and III, which worked well enough but was disappointing nonetheless. Margaret Lattimore brought grit to the powerhouse role of Juno, but could have brought out her anger even more. Soprano Amanda Forsythe sang the role of Iris particularly well with exquisite control and smooth and clear tone. As Juno’s secretary, she played the perfect cohort for Juno’s schemes, dutifully and comically assisting her in her various plans.

Act II was overall unremarkable, and the highlight of Act III was Semele’s famous aria of vanity, “Myself I shall adore.” Commonly performed with a handheld mirror, Helfrich’s stage direction properly exaggerated the intentionally ridiculous aria. Juno offers Semele a full-length mirror halfway through the aria, which results in her laying on top of her own reflection by the end of the aria, kissing and caressing her own image. David Kravitz’s portrayal of Somnus, the god of sleep, was another highlight of Act III; his drowsy, rumbling interpretation of Somnus’ aria, “Leave me, loathsome light” brought a great reaction from the audience and outshone Kravitz’s performance as Semele’s father, Cadmus.

Semele’s death was far from theatrical. Handel’s stage directions describe how Jupiter descends in a cloud surrounded by thunder and lightening and how Semele then burns from exposure to Jupiter’s immortal form and disappears in the burst of a cloud. There was no lightening or thunder in this production, and no visual representation of Jupiter’s immortal form. She dies unremarkably, with no indication of Jupiter’s transformation beyond the fact that he is holding hands with Juno, symbolic of their reunion. It was anti-climactic, especially considering the theatrics Handel envisioned for the scene.

For the most part, the characterizations and stage directions of Helfrich’s production of Semele were tuned perfectly. He brought out the bawdier humor in the libretto with suggestive gestures and experimented with technology as a modern interface by using the projector and cell phones as props. The characters were developed with a satirical spin that kept the performance light-hearted, and when members of the chorus got down and boogied to some of Handel’s orchestral numbers it became downright silly. It was unfortunate that this playfulness did not translate to the scenery. Though a more daring scenery palette may have enhanced this production of Semele, the performances of the singers carried the light-hearted spirit of the opera and made the performance a success.