Review: Juilliard Opera's AGRIPPINA Shows How to Handel Silliness and Politics

A funny thing happened on the way to Emperor Claudius' death scene: He didn't die. At least, that's what happens in Handel's opera AGRIPPINA, setting the convoluted plot in motion and giving the young singers of Juilliard Opera and its Juilliard415 period-instrument ensemble a heck of a ride. Presented in the tiny Willson Theatre--which is probably smaller than Melania Trump's shoe closet--conductor Jeffrey Grossman and director Louisa Proske led a lively, well-sung staged performance of this Baroque gem, one of Handel's earliest successes, written for Carnival season 1709. (It had been presented in concert form a week earlier in Alice Tully Hall.)

Juilliard certainly knows how to put these Baroque pieces together--I relish the performance of Cavalli's LA CALISTO they did a year ago--with a minimum of trappings (though with some great costumes by Beth Goldenberg and an opulent-looking unit set by Kate Noll) and a maximum of senior talent from the vocal department. While I prefer the more seria of Handel's operas, this one had the right balance of silliness and politics (or is that redundant?) to keep things moving and a full roster of obnoxious characters (except for Ottone) to keep one's eyes rolling.

On paper, the opera sounds somewhat familiar, since it shares some characters with Monteverdi's INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA--except for Agrippina herself who's the center of attention only in the Handel, of course--but, to paraphrase Sondheim, 'opera seria tomorrow, comedy tonight.'

The gist of the story? Agrippina, wife of the emperor Claudius (sung by the excellent lyric coloratura soprano Samantha Hankey), hears that her husband (last week's George London prize winner, bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum) has been killed in a shipwreck on his way home from war. As the opera puts it, "She who is the most resourceful deserves the power," and Agrippina wants to take full advantage of the vacuum at the top: She begins plotting to install her son from a previous marriage, Nerone--here, a sort of feral child/nudnik very well sung by soprano Nicolette Mavroleon--on the throne, simultaneously giving herself some power.

But--surprise!--Claudius survives his travails, thanks to the help of Ottone (the outstanding countertenor, Jakub Jozef Orlinski), who he designates as his heir, much to Agrippina's dismay. Unbeknownst to either Claudius or Ottone, they both have their eye on Poppea (the sultry soprano Onadek Winan), which adds complications for Agrippina to use to her advantage. Add a few hangers on, including Pallante (the amusing baritone Jacob Scharfman), Narciso (the wonderfully velvety mezzo Avery Amereau) and Lesbo (the slightly goofy bass Andrew Munn) and, voila!, you have major hijinks in Rome. But everyone lives (kind of) happily ever after.

While one or two of the players seemed to be suffering somewhat from the ills being passed around Lincoln Center in recent weeks, the level of the singing--both in the voices and their enunciation--was impressive, and necessarily so, considering the difficulty of Handel's score. I particularly like Hankey in her aria, "Pensieri, voi mi tormentate" Winan's "Bel piacere e godere" and Orlinski's "Tacero pur che fedele."

Conductor Grossman coaxed a delightful, multi-faceted performance from the outstanding players of the Juilliard415 players, perched over the action like a deus ex machina (an inspired and unexpected intervention)--ready to pounce on the proceedings below.

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Juilliard's AGRIPPINA is a partner event to Carnegie Hall's festival, "La Serenissima: Music and Arts from the Venetian Republic."

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