SFist Ced graciously allowed us to take a break from alt-weekly-reading and political-junkie-ing for a lovely evening out at the Opera -- thanks, Ced!

The few times we've gone to the opera previously, we've only been able to afford the seats that are so high up in the building that Jon Krakauer is writing a book about our trek up the stairs (contrary to the rumors, we were not short-roped) -- what a treat to be down on the main floor where the oxygen is so thick and water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit! It's a totally different scene on the first floor -- the lines for the bathroom are shorter, women wear sparklier dresses, and -- who knew? -- there's a cafe in the basement! We looked for Sean Wilsey's stepmother in the audience but the program said that she usually sits in Box O.

Rodelinda is a Baroque-era opera written in 1725 by George Friederic Handel (you may remember him from such hits as "The Hallelujah Chorus"). Rodelinda is the queen of Naples, who has just been told that her husband, King Bertarido, has been found dead. Bertarido's rival, Duke Grimoaldo, will take the throne in his place. Turns out Grimoaldo's been in love with Rodelinda for years (despite being engaged to Bertarido's sister Eduige) and threatens to kill Rodelinda's son Flavio if she doesn't agree to marry him. Tough breaks! Making things more complicated, Bertarido's not actually dead, he's just escaped back into the kingdom. Will Rodelinda marry Grimoaldo to save her child? What about Bertarido? And why is the sinister hitman Garibaldo always lurking around?

The Opera also made one of those "controversial" moves in the operatic community and shifted the setting of Rodelinda from 18th century Italy to the 1940s, and designed the sets with a modernist, film noir-type feel. So instead of the usual (faux-)ermine robes and scepters you think of when you think of Baroque opera, the women wore snazzy vintage suits and the men wore bow ties and tuxes. And the "kingdom" consisted of city buildings and bridge underpasses, instead of the usual moats and turrets you'd expect.

After the jump: a mezzo writhing on the floor, molls and gangsters, and -- was that booing we heard when the set designers took a bow?

Picture from the SF Opera

You know, we actually really liked the set design and the shift in the setting of the show. It really helped highlight the essence of the opera's plot (political machinations, shifting alliances, fear of the responsibility of leadership) for us to see people in modern-day garb, as opposed to being distracted with thoughts of "a queen, how weird and not relevant to my everyday experience." The program notes suggested that maybe Rodelinda was, like Carmela Soprano, the cosseted wife of a mob boss who got caught in a turf war, and as the opera progressed, we even found ourselves coming up with gangster back stories to fit the costuming. And we liked the sharp angles of the set, with the Pop Art displays of King Bertarido in his prime and at his grave.

Now, Handel is never going to be Mozart. But the tunes chug-chug-chugged along in their usual sturdy Handel kind of way, and the arias provided plenty of opportunities for the singers to work their pipes. The standard aria in Rodelinda involved one of the characters taking a break from the action to explain his or her feelings (a typical lyric, our favorite, was "The deadliest grief is that which does not kill," which we're still trying to figure out. That can't be true! Wouldn't the deadliest grief be the kind that does kill?), so there's lots of showstoppers included. Soprano Rodelinda (Catherine Naglestad) and tenor Duke Grimoaldo (Paul Nilon) were particular standouts to us (we were like, ditch Bertarido and marry Grimoaldo instead! He seems like a very sweet guy!), but we noticed that the audience did a lot of bravo-shouting for countertenors Bertarido (David Daniels) and his faithful sucker of a servant Unulfo (Gerald Thompson) as well.

We're not sure how the audience liked it -- the opera is about three and a half hours, first of all, which is a long time to do anything, and at the first intermission, we heard a lot of people complaining about the humping action on the stage by sister Eduige (mezzo Phyllis Pancella) and evil plotter Garibaldo (basso Umberto Chiummo). Oh, evil basso and floozy mezzo, you are such standards of the opera canon! Epater les bourgeoisie! And -- we're almost positive we heard some booing when the set designers came out at the end to take their bows. Do people still boo at concerts? We thought that went out with the embarrassment of saying you hated The Rite of Spring back in Paris of 1913.

So. If you've been wanting to try out some opera, but 1) think Mozart is too cheesy, 2) find the Italians too fluffy and/or overwrought, and 3) are worried that Dr. Atomic might be a little too much with the nonmelodic for your tastes -- Rodelinda just might be theshow for you to go check out this season. A cinematic plot, cheerful KCRB-friendly melodies, edgy set design -- you definitely won't be bored.

Tickets for Rodelinda range from $25 to $235 and can be purchased here. Stop by the day of and you can pick up standing room seats for $10.