…I sit on the Board of the Long Beach Opera, a local avant-garde opera company.
This week, we’ll be premiering a staged version of Ricky Ian Gordon’s ‘Orpheus’, sung by soprano Elizabeth Futral. In a swimming pool.
Seriously…it is staged in and around the water at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach.
Who: Elizabeth Futral & Todd Palmer
What: Opera by Ricky Ian Gordon, directed by Andreas Mitisek
Where: Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool, 4000 Ocean Blvd., Long Beach
When: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Tickets: $45-$95
So Orpheus saves Eurydice from the swimming pool? Well, as long as he saves her.
This doesn’t seem to be intended as a farce, so I’m not sure how the swimming pool comes into it – unless the technical director just likes a challenge.
Well, the chlorine smell will be hades to get out of the costumes… I guess there’s a mythic connection there.
I hope the swimming pool is full of jello and ping pong balls. Adds so much more meaning, you know.