WhiteBox is pleased to present the work of opera director R. B. Schlather as part of WhiteBoxLab>>Sound Lounge, a series of unconventional works. For two weeks, WhiteBox’s main exhibition space will be a laboratory for the rehearsal and performance of an operatic score, culminating in two performances of George Frideric Handel’s Alcina, an 18th century baroque opera. This theatric installation uses the opera seria, or “serious opera”, Alcina (1735) as source material. The libretto, L’Isola d’Alcina (1728) is by Riccardo Broschi, based off of Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando Furioso. Alcina is a story of love and illusion that premiered during Handel’s remarkable hit season at the Covent Garden Theatre in London in 1735, and is regarded as one of his most inventive and melodic musical scores.
WhiteBoxLab>> Sound Lounge and R. B. Schlather respond to the changing landscape of operatic performance in New York City and around the world by staging this work in an untraditional opera venue. As a laboratory, WhiteBoxLab>>Sound Lounge is delighted to open all musical and staging rehearsals, September 6 – 17, prior to the General Rehearsal on September 19 at 7pm and the final productions on September 20 and 21 at 7pm, with a Talk back after the performance on the 21st moderated by Joseph Cermatori. This program will be free and open to the public daily, except for Thursdays, from 11am to 6pm. For the final performances, the opera will be enacted live with an orchestra, in Italian, utilizing new technologies with projected English subtitles.
The opera is set on the island of the enchantress Alcina, and explores themes of identity, illusion, and transformation. This island exists as a beautiful landscape in the middle of the ocean, where Alcina culls her powers to create a paradise, only to lure and seduce the knights that wash up on her shore, one of whom is the heroic Ruggiero. Alcina’s magic causes Ruggiero to fall under her spell and, in doing so, he forsakes his duty as a knight and forgets his fiancée, Bradamante. The opera develops as Bradamante disguises herself as a male warrior her brother “Ricciardo” and sets out on a mission to recover her love. Accompanied by Alcina’s guardian, Melisso, the two are shipwrecked on Alcina’s island by fate. Imminent danger awaits Ruggiero, as Alcina possesses the power to transform her foes and lovers of whom she tires into rocks, trees, and wild beasts. The already heavily dramatized plot is further complicated by the integration of different characters who all, in their own right, act on emotions of love and jealousy. In portraying Alcina’s thickened plot, Schlather’s production brings to life a story of enchantment, folding into it classic operatic moments of romance, betrayal, violence, unrequited love, and magic.
R. B. Schlather’s production is part of Whitebox’s new program, WhiteboxLab>Sound Lounge, which aims to create sustained and in-depth exposure for artists working in temporal mediums such as performance, sound art, and literary arts, while providing a platform for audiences to experience artist practices.
