The International Festival of Arts and iIdeas is intentionally scheduled to provide a smooth transition from the end of the school year into the summer entertainment season. Usually, that just means providing stuff to do during an otherwise lackluster period at the end of June.
But this year, Arts & Ideas is actually providing a seasonal transition as well. Two dance pieces this week — Mark Morris’s Acis and Galatea and a piece by the Ragmala Dance Company (stay tuned for Lucy Gellman’s review) both boasted a spring in their step, ushering in a bright breezy summer.
Renowned choreographer/director Mark Morris, making his third appearance at the Arts and Ideas festival, went for a springlike touch for his production of Handel’s Acis. Sung in its English translation (by Alexander Pope, John Gay, and John Hughes) and using Mozart’s arrangement of the score, everything about this Metamorphoses myth was light as air.
You knew you were in good hands as soon as the overture began. Conductor Nicholas McGegan kept a lilting, peppy pace. The melodies were clear and catchy. Then the chorus appeared, outfitted by fashion titan Isaac Mizrahi in floor-length skirts for the men and summer dresses for the women. Everyone wore the same translucent green and white fabric, which shone against the abstract forest-like paint-slash set designs of Adrianne Lobel.
The opera was so fully danced, by so many people, that it confounded all modern views of opera. Like his contemporary Peter Sellars, Morris likes to have opera singers act out fully, not just stand and sing. When the lovestruck Acis sings “see at your feet the longing Acis lie,” he literally lies down at Galatea’s feet, while still singing in full voice.
But the constant flurry of the chorus is what makes Acis and Galatea such an overwhelmingly vital and beautiful experience. The 18 dancers cavort, kick, twist, swoon, leap, strut, slide, turn, roll, flinch, embrace, pivot, flutter, and fly for an astounding amount of time. This exquisite chorus is called upon to mimic a monster, conjure up a bubbling fountain, illustrate the deepest expressions of love. But mostly they invoke that incomparable miracle of nature, a bright sunny morning.
Acis and Galatea is a funnily balanced work. Mark Morris’ own six-line synopsis of the piece is thus:
Acis is in love with Galatea.
The monster, Polyphemus, also loves her.
In a jealous rage, and spurned by Galatea,
Polyphemus hurls a boulder at Acis and mortally wounds him.
Galatea uses her magic powers to change her dead lover
into a stream that will flow eternally.
Simple enough (and simple in the Ovid original as well). But by the end of the first act, only the first line of that synopsis has been presented; Polyphemus hasn’t even shown up yet. All the transformative action happens after intermission. The first half is simply a larger-than-life love fest. When the monster Polyphemus arrives, he’s unencumbered by masks or makeup; he’s just a mean-looking, overdressed beardy guy whose evil reputation precedes him. Alexander Dobson (new to the production, which has played several cities since it debuted last year) sings the role with deep, rich resonance but also is able to play up the comedy.
In the title roles, Thomas Cooley is a wide-eyed, innocent and endearing Acis, while the goddess Galatea is given gravity, responsibility, and benevolence by Yulia Van Doren. This is not your basic eyes-across-a-crowded-room love affair. There’s depth and majesty in it.
The whole production is a whirl of light, sound, and wonderment. It is as accessible as a stroll in the park, yet exists on a heavenly plane. Director and choreographer Morris — who was present for the opening night Thursday, bowing gracefully with the cast to a standing ovation from the audience — established himself decades ago as one of the great choreographers of our time. His command of such a multidisciplinary work as this, with such a complicated history — an opera based on a poetic adaptation of a Greek myth, composed by Handel in 1718 as one act, revised extensively in 1732 and again in 1739, then given a new arrangement by Mozart a half-century later — shows Morris to be a master of all he surveys, an exceptional manipulator of bodies and souls. A bringer of the summer.
Acis and Galatea has its second and final Arts and Ideas performance on June 19, 8 p.m., at the Shubert, 247 College St. Click here for details.