Third opera in November, third reaction from the audience at curtain rise. After the enthusiastic applause for La Rondine's shiny marble sets after the bleak and silent shock of Macbeth's hole-in-the-wall sets, we got the giggles after catching sight of The Rake's Progress' opening oil field.

The patrons were willing to entertain an oil well and a 1950s Americana re-setting that dramatically differs from Stravinsky's original 18th Century,even though they were a tad skeptical. At first. After all, what could be the symbolism here? A young couple lying on a blanket in front of the derrick, pumping in, pumping out, viscous fluids a-flowing. (Mmm, we can't put our finger on it. Oh no wait, we can: sex.) Fortunately, the whimsical sets by Carl Fillion (for the Robert Lepage and Sybille Wilson directed production) won them over. And after a few scene changes, they were enthusiastically clapping at the wacky decors thrown at them.

Above, William Burden and Laura Aikin, below James Morris and Catherine Cook, and Denyce Graves, pictures Terrence McCarthy/SF Opera.

With a libretto written by W.H. Auden, The Rake's Progress' set circa the 1950s works. The set changes were sweepingly cinematic, switching from one place to the next as if edited in a movie, with a seamlessness we're not accustomed to seeing on stage -- much less, an opera stage. That derrick for instance, turns into a crane carrying a cameraman. And one moment we're in Texas, the nest we're on a Hollywood set. When Tom Rakewell, the titular rake, gets swallow via a heart-shape mattress along with a prostitute, it visually, and almost literally, makes the point that the naive young boy from the country is losing himself deep into deprivation. Brilliant.

We could recount many other ideas like these -- a trailer that inflates to match Tom's ego, an inhabited doll house under a giant moon, a scarf caught in the wind as Ann Trulove opens the top of her convertible, an Adonis doing a Greg Louganis impersonation, etc.-- but the visual experience are best viewed in person. And you'll be surprised, we guarantee it.

Musically, by the way, you won't be disappointed either. Runnicles keeps things moving on a sure footing. And the singers do a fine job. William Burden's Rakewell has a sweet voice. He is not overpowering, but we'll take a harmonious soft voice over wild off-pitch raging pipes any day. Plus, he does a great job at evolving the way he sings over the decay of his character: he starts with a clear pitch, a bright, clean voice, which seems to ever so slightly burnish as he goes down the road to perdition and madness.

Laura Aikin is a good match for him, as Ann Trulove, Tom's innocent love interest: she favors precision over volume, she has the perfect voice for a debutante, yet she brings a determined intensity to the final scenes. And James Morris' Nick Shadow, a Mephistopheles character to Rakewell's Faust, is as dark as his crude covered costume in his entrance sin.

Ann's dad, Kevin Langan has a smaller part, but he got a good laugh when he tells his daughter: "Ann, your advice is needed in the kitchen." This is one of the first recitatives in the opera, which Stravinsky, in a neo-classical mood, accompanies with a harpsichord. The line, probably earnest when Stravinsky set it to music in the late 40s, now becomes underlined as antique by its baroque orchestration. Fun!

Denyce Graves stole the show as Baba the Turk. Baba the Turk is a circus freak whom Tom marries as a gratuitous act to display his free will (we'd say a Lafcadio moment, but that sounds like another opera character). Denyce Graves manages to be the bearded woman who looks good in a bathing suit, quite a trick to pull. She sings nasally, with a don't-mess-with-me attitude, faking a mean, bitter spinster voice, for lack of a better way to describe her tone. She totally deadpans her role, and she's hilarious.

Robert Lepage is a genius (those who had seen the Far Side of the Moon at Zellerbach back in the day will concur), and this opera is a well needed progress over the previous prod. There's only 5 shows left, it's a very short run, don't make the mistake of missing it!

The Rake's Progress
War Memorial Opera House
301 Van Ness Ave
Box Office: 864-3330
5 more shows: Wed. November 28, 7:30 pm, Sat. December 1, 8 pm, Tue. December 4, 8 pm, Fri. December 7, 8 pm, Sun. December 9, 2 pm