$10 worth of tragedy

“This is the best deal in town,” James Dewey tells me, as we wait in line for the Keller Auditorium box office to open. “If I were still a season ticket holder, I’d be paying $80 for tonight’s performance.”

Instead, he’ll be paying $20. As a student, I will pay only $10. With their box office rush tickets, Portland Opera Company offers students the chance to enjoy a rich cultural experience that might otherwise be cost prohibitive.

One hour from now, the curtain will rise on the Portland Opera Company’s first production of the 2010–11 season. A former season ticket holder myself, I’ve lined up at the box office with Dewey and 20 others, hoping to discover what the opera has to offer a student on a budget. Dewey, a 63-year-old Portland realtor, has much to say about what the Portland Opera Company has offered him throughout the years.

“I’ve been to opera houses all over the world. San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, London,” he says. “The only place that I can definitively say puts on a better production than we have here in Portland is the Royal Opera in London. That’s saying a lot.”

Dewey’s passion for the opera is palpable. His wife frequently nods in agreement as he continues.

“We go up to Seattle for their performances quite a bit. They might have more productions each season than we do, and a bigger budget, but Portland Opera is just as good.”

Indeed, the Portland Opera Company has garnered much praise for its challenging, diverse, and inventive productions. Since 2003, Portland Opera has thrived, in spite of its limited schedule under General Director Christopher Mattaliano.

Each season has a theme, explored over the course of the year, in four different productions. The structure of the season changes from one year to the next, but always includes a classic opera, a lesser-known work and a modern piece. The Portland Opera Studio Artists perform the fourth production each season at the more intimate Newmark Theater.

The Keller Auditorium is a wonder to behold when the procession of opera enthusiasts find their seats. There is excitement in the air and friendly talk all about, but no sense of urgency. The opera is a place for the sensualist, and its patrons savor each moment of the experience from the grand entrance to the final bow.

As I make my way down the aisle, I am delighted to find that my $10 student ticket will give me the best seat I’ve had in four years of opera patronage. I am eight rows back from the pit orchestra, staring straight ahead at center stage.

The Portland Opera Company opens its 2010–11 season with a crowd-pleaser. The classic Pagliacci is being presented in two acts, followed by a one-act performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. These are two of the most recognizable pieces of music in the world, separated only by a brief intermission.

I have purposely dressed down for this evening, but my jeans and tennis shoes do not stop those sitting near me in tuxedos and evening dresses from engaging me in friendly conversation. Nowhere are cultural and class divides more apparent than in the opera house, and yet they matter less here than anywhere. If there is snobbery in the opera house, I have yet to encounter it.

As the lights dim, the curtain rises on the wonderful Pagliacci. Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s classic tale of a sad, cuckolded clown, betrayed and driven to murder, is a truly splendid affair. There is no better tale than this to highlight this season’s theme of “fantasy and reality.” The staging is ingenious, as always, and the presentation of this tale of love, betrayal and murder is fantastically playful. The performers themselves are a delight, particularly baritone Mark Rucker as the wretched Tonio.

The decision to stage Carmina Burana immediately following Pagliacci concerned me. The former, traditionally performed by dance companies, is presented here as a five-act selection, performed by the pit orchestra and the chorus. Portland’s Body Vox Dance Company adds a visual element to the powerful poetry of Orff’s masterpiece. It’s an ambitious, spirited performance, but the Portland Opera Company is a tough act to follow, even for them. The depth of the work is difficult to appreciate following the emotional arc of Pagliacci. It is, however, a well-choreographed, masterfully performed piece. It suffers little from its truncation for length.

After the final bows, and the minutes of applause that followed, I take to the exit. A good opera stays with you, and one line in particular lingers with me the following day:

“In the tavern, we think not of the grave,” the chorus sings in Carmina Burana.

In the opera house, we do, but it always belongs to someone else. That, as they say, is entertainment.