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Friday's performance at the Hult Center was the second in the season's offerings by Eugene Opera Company under its energetic new artistic director, Robert Ashens. This congenial, vivacious and knowledgeable man has a contagious excitement and love for the opera. His dedication can be seen through the work and at the Opera Insights, lectures held the week before performance. The hour is packed with history, a brief synopsis, musical examples, and manages to include a couple of soloists performing arias. As Tutte's overture began, the audience was greeted to a painted curtain, like an elaborate title page with fancy scrolls and cupids. The curtain rose to reveal a simple, elegant Baroque frame appropriately reducing the stage size to fit a six-character opera. Immediately, the pacing was set for action with a handful of supernumeraries moving about the downstage area and the three male characters playing a polite game of billiards. Don Alfonso bets the two young officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, that their girlfriends could not remain faithful if tested, and so the plot ensues. Terrific stage directing by Ron Luchsinger makes all the fantasy come to life. A raised and slightly raked stage spilled out toward the audience, accommodating extra stage business. A wooden floor maximized sound. The set altars became various inner and outer chambers and a garden. Clever addition of curtains, potted plants, giant dangling flowers, a ship going by the back window and very fine lighting effects by Chris Maravich, successfully created the necessary illusions. The costumes were tastefully coordinated with subtle hues and a few radically contrasting ones to emphasize the comedy. A good example was seen as chambermaid Despina mischievously skipped in and out of scenes with her outrageous disguises and affected voice types. A spunky Jenni Samuelson played Despina, taking the stage in a spirit of fun. She demonstrated vocal strength and versatility as she spiced up the conspiracy. Her sage advice to the two sisters is to relax and enjoy life while they can. Jennifer Rivera portrayed a swooning Fiordiligi with comedic exaggeration and facial expressions that read to the balcony. She presented a sweet and direct voice that communicated and blended well in the many duets with her sister, Dorabella, sung by Andrea Garritano. David Gustafson, as Ferrando, is a committed and exciting singer. He has a natural stage presence and carried the high comedy of his character with vitality. He has the round full tone longed for, but rarely found, in a tenor. Vocally among the couples there was a noticeably unequal range of expression and ability to project both character and music, but the ensemble mix was outstanding. Unhappily, the brilliance of Mozart's score was lost from the pit orchestra playing in the vast environs of Silva Hall, but the reward in this production was to hear every word from the singers, AND understand every word, thanks to supertitles projected above the stage. Bravo for the clear continuity of concept, lively tempos, continuous stage activity and zany characterizations.
Wait! you say. The sun's been shining like Jesse Ventura's head! The grass at Alton Baker Park has barely nudged the needle on the Muck-o-Meter! Well you can toss the false hope of an early spring out onto the compost, where, along with the potato peels and yesterday's mocha grinds, it will eventually turn into something useful. Because you can count on this: The days are still short. Your attention span is even shorter. And it's gonna get worse before it gets better. But before you lace up your mental duck boots for a romp in muddy misery, I'm here to remind you: Use this time, baby. Focus on getting yourself in shape to optimize those days of glory when warmth finally arrives. That's right. It's time to exercise, Ed. Pump up, Peaches. Get buff, bro. But to do it right, you've got to be holistic. Y'know. Tune up the tantric trinity of the self. The big three. Did somebody say mind, body, and spirit? Sorry. Those can be zipped into shape with Scrabble, a Mark McGuire-size dose of Androstenedione, and a few verses of Rumi. No, to get the most out of the bright days ahead, you've got to go deep. Elemental. Freudian. Right to the inner three: The Ego. Me first! If you're planning on jiggling your thighs at the new, improved Amazon Pool, you don't need a Stairmaster. You need a stoked-up sense of your own self-worth. Gotta get there fast? Start the day with affirmations, three sets of eight reps. Here's a favorite: "Each day, in every way, I'm the only one that counts." Or, "In the ocean of life, I swim with the dolphins ... and dine with the sharks." Me, I sit with my back straight, shoulders square, and boot up my "memory show." It's a 16-meg Power Point presentation with Quick Time animations, dissolves, and MP3s, intercutting my best photos from BBS (before bald spot) with scrolling yearbook quotes from my Lawrenceville classmates. It's really cool! The Id. Just imagine always being in front of the line for the Hult Center women's restroom. Or having that dreamy, well-oiled, bronze lifeguard notice you. Or being left alone so you can finish off that pint of Cherry Garcia. Nothing's better than direct and instant satisfaction of your physical and mental needs ... except throwing a fit when they don't get met! You'll be amazed at how easy it is to get what you want with even the smallest tantrum. So get in touch with your primitive impulses. As the DuckVision screen says, Make Some NOISE! Scream! Holler! Cry! Spit! Wail! But don't try to do it all at once. Consult your doctor first, and work into it slowly. Warm up your vocal cords, carefully sounding out each vowel. Then move on to staccato repetitions of each consonant. Finally, put it all together in sharp, piercing wails with appropriate flailing movements. You'll be getting your way in no time! Helpful hint: Many docs are recommending 4 especially if you're over 40 4 that it's OK to take ibuprofen both after and before a tantrum to inhibit swelling. The Superego. Now, you're at the top of your game. You've developed an irresistible personality and an immovable persona. If all things are in balance, the world's moral demands and judgments in response to your forceful behavior will be weighing you down like a plate of nachos before bedtime. Heck, life isn't worth living unless there's a voice inside telling you you've been a naughty girl. But if the echo of conscience is only a faint whisper, you've got to tune up the ol' superego, put some meat on the skeleton of guilt. There are many ways to arouse the Inner Parent that scolds "Bad boy!" or, "Shame, shame, shame!" But for me, you can't beat a simple subscription to People or an Adam Sandler marathon. Remember: no pain, no gain. If you want your engine to be firing on all cylinders when the mighty ship of summer comes sailing in, you've got to walk the walk. Start working out now, and you'll be in shape to ride the high tide of conflict between desire and guilt all summer long.
Griffin's vastly spacious plan is clearly designed for auto travel, but at least there are plenty of scenic bike paths. It was cheaper for us to buy new mountain bikes than to rent a car, so we combine ample daily exercise with a close look at the natural environment. The first thing we noticed, after the delicious smell of eucalyptus, was the abundance of birds. Canberra is intentionally friendly to wildlife. Surrounded by hills and close to good "bush walking," it's reputedly the only city where you can run into kangaroos. Thanks to a central lake, adjoining wetlands and several nature-park corridors that flow almost to the town center, birds are everywhere. And what birds! Parrots, cockatoos and kookaburras are commonplace, and in two weeks of the most casual bird-watching we'd identified more than 50 species. By the end of the 20th century, over 12 million trees had been planted in Canberra, most of them non-native. (Griffin favored using only native plants, but he was over-ruled.) Some birds seem happy to exploit exotics. Cockatoos feast merrily on American pine-cones and Italian cypress nuts. Of course, many birds are specially adapted to feed on native trees and shrubs, and that means some of the best bird-watching is to be found at the National Botanic Garden. Griffin included a botanic garden in his original plan but it didn't really get going until the '60s. Perhaps it is thanks to this late start that the garden is, remarkably, dedicated entirely to Australian plants. Conveniently located right next to ANU, it has provided me with a perfect introduction to the native flora. Australian plants are definitely different. There's one rhododendron, a few geraniums and hibiscus and many orchids. Beyond that, everything is strange. Outside the shrinking rain forests, the prevalent look is lean, dry, gray-green and russet, a reflection of scorching summers and sandy soils that hold little moisture. But that look encompasses an astonishing range of subtle colors and textures. Conifers are rare, but there are non-conifers that look just like pines. Most other trees are either gums (eucalyptus) or wattles (acacia) but within these genera there is too much variation for boredom. Variation is an Australian specialty. Consider grevillea and banksia, two exquisite flowering shrubs that are familiar to warm-climate gardeners in the US. Both can be prostrate, tree-like or somewhere in between, with leaves resembling rosemary, holly or oak. In spite of this rich heritage, most local suburban gardens could be just about anywhere with a mild climate. Roses, oleander and agapanthus (all imports) are ubiquitous. But people do love birds and other small wildlife, and there is a noticeable interest in planting natives for their sake. Native plants are much easier to find in Canberra than they are in Eugene. There are numerous specialized nurseries, and some garden centers offer a good selection. I visited a government-owned nursery, established in 1913 to test both exotic and native plants for their suitability for Canberra and to supply the expanding town. In 1930, to encourage the greening of the Bush Capital, the government began to issue free plants from this nursery to new home-sites, a program that still exists today. Currently about 50 percent of Yarralumla Nursery's substantial stock is native to Australia. I've seen a few articles in the press about "going bush" so I asked the friendly clerk if interest in natives is growing. "It goes in waves," she said, "but interest is pretty high right now. We've had a problem with people thinking they can stick them in and ignore them because they are hardy. Now we try to help them understand natives need care at first, just like exotics." The nursery is certainly generous with helpful information, and plants are grouped to make selection easier. And there are bird-friendly signs all over, such as "Small birds love plants with prickles," and "Give our friends a meal eating your insect pests 4 leave the spray in the shed."
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By Rachel Foster