<>            YOUR NEW SELF---YOUR IDEAL, OR YOUR NEMESIS?  
                                              By Paul Hertelendy 
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
                                                                 Week of A[ril 23-30, 2006
                                                                  Vol. 8, No. 92
          BERKELEY---Small is beautiful, said Mies van der Rohe. And he was on to something, even though opera was far from his mind.
          The Berkeley Opera's three productions a year and a $250,000 budget add up to a small company. The famed architect might have appreciated that in his day, particularly since the troupe thinks big, though saddled with a modest house (a converted church/chapel) lacking many basics like flies and dressing rooms.
          Now it has not only brought off a world premiere, but earned a rousing ovation with a very modern and multi-faceted psychodrama that merits reprises elsewhere.
          "Chrysalis" takes on a twin-barrel-shotgun challenge, part of it straight out of "Faust:" Tinkering with one's appearance for youth and beauty, while tinkering with one's inner self, the identity.  And, much as in "Faust,"  the exterior transformation is achieved at a devastating price for the soul, leading to torment and anguish. I may go home prettier and 20 years younger, but I am then doomed to spend years with a therapist to mend my inner conflicts and make peace with the new persona. Such is the fate of the heroine Ellen.
         Clark Suprynowicz's new opus---his first to be staged, unveiled April 22 at the Julia Morgan Theater---is a remarkable, arresting chamber opera for two lead women, two supporting males, and a chorus of eight. Its salient asset is the composer's superb understanding of and sympathy for the female voice, with glorious vocalise for mezzo and soprano, as well as in interwoven duets alluring enough to send shivers down your spine. You'd have thought you were back in the heyday of Italian opera.
          Librettist-playwright John O'Keefe developed a brilliant notion of Ellen's younger, prettier, more alluring alter-ego (called Nelle) emerging from a mirror image and playing a shadow role throughout. Working enthusiastically for a BALCO-type rejuvenation corporation specializing in wild cosmetic transformations, Ellen finds herself in ever more surreal situations, at times screaming hysterically into cell phones. (Her equally modern boyfriend Timothy has proudly begun growing big lab-engendered breasts). In the process of treatment, she finds herself cast aside by every one, supplanted by Nelle, in a superficial society adopting youthfulness and beauty as a near-religion, extravagantly trumpeting through the lab-coated chorus, "A killer application...Grow a new body...Beauty isn't skin-deep any more."
            Gracious, that could never happen here, could it---except in this world of nips and tucks, liposuction and botox, we're well on the way.
             But the opera grapples with the far deeper question of identity transformation, which clearly is the ruin of Ellen in this passionless Futurist society.  Ths is a new take on the issue voiced by Kafka, Nietsche, Sartre, Mozart's Countess, Shakespeare's Hamlet, operas ranging from "Erwartung" to "Die Frau ohne Schatten," and a host of Doppelgaenger authors.
            While destroyed by change, Ellen sticks by the mantra. When the newly divorced Timothy declares his love for Ellen and emphasizes how much he has changed, she sourly retorts, "Then change again."
            Clark Suprynowicz's utilitarian score used an imaginative chamber-orchestra format with lengthy instrumental interludes, plus some electronic sampler elements skilfully  supplementing the pallette, and occasional chamber music. The small orchestra thus has a supremely important if not consistently ear-catching  part, very nicely brought to fruition on opening night under the baton of B.O. Artistic Director Jonathan Khuner.
            The singing-acting cast of faces familiar to Berkeley Opera audiences was strong. Dramatic mezzo-soprano Buffy Baggott was thoroughly theatrical in her Jobian ordeals of decline and fall for the title role, with an attractive voice devoid of the slightest wobble. Coloratura soprano (and newcomer) Marnie Breckenridge provided a traffic-stopping blonde Nelle in beautiful coordination with Baggott. Baritone Igor Vieira was an exuberant Timothy, while bass-baritone John Minagro played the therapist with uncommon reserve.
             The success of the premiere was assured through the stage direction of Mark Streshinsky, who never let the action get static. His mobile production design made effective use of movable semi-transparent wall panels and rolling medical-office chairs.
            Supertitle translations were projected of the libretto.
            Did I like it? First I have to figure out, who am I? What am I? Why am I? And what will I be next---all hefty questions to ponder on the way home from this stimulating two-hour musical drama.
            Clark Suprynowicz's world-premiere "Chrysalis" produced by Berkeley Opera at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave., Berkeley, repeating April 26, 28, 30. Two hours, one intermission. For info: (925) 798-1300, or go online. 
             ©Paul Hertelendy 2006 
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            Paul Hertelendy has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
     These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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