Humor and Serious Drama Cohabit Amiably in Opera NEO’s Production of Handel’s ‘Serse’
Although San Diego’s Opera NEO can only boast 10 years to its record, it has boldly championed the Italian operas of G. F. Handel from the beginning. I recall attending moving Opera NEO productions of his Agrippina, Partenope, and Rinaldo, and on Friday the company opened Serse. Based on the Fifth Century B.C. Persian King usually called Xerses I, Serse is not easy to categorize. The late Welsh musicologist and Handel scholar Anthony Hicks claimed it was one of Handel’s best scores, “moving surefootedly between farce and tragedy.”

(l. to.r.) Shafali Jalota, Michael Skarke, Stephanie Doche, Jared Lesa, Katherine Cosenza [photo (c.) Gary Payne]
Artistic Director Peter Kozma assembled a cast of young singers quite at home traversing Handel’s demanding high Baroque style with its unforgiving, florid embellishment. In the title role, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Doche confidently sailed through acres of fioritura, either expressing intense ardor for Romilda or explosive anger facing her rejection. In addition to such facility, she revealed a stunning, bright upper range that should make most sopranos jealous. Countertenor Michael Skarke as Arsamene brought equal finesse to his florid romantic effusion for Romilda, but proved even more compelling in his lyrical laments over his separation from her by his brother’s royal decree.
For opera history buffs, I suggest it is of interest that in Handel’s first Serse production in 1738 at London’s King’s Theatre, the title role was sung by a famous castrato who went by the name of Caffarelli, and the role of Arsemene was taken by a mezzo-soprano known as La Luchessina, a reversal of the genders that Opera NEO selected for the royal brothers.

Shafali Jalota [photo (c.) Gary Payne]

Jared Lesa [photo (c.) Gary Payne]

Onstage l. to r.: Shafli Jalota & Stephanie Doche; In pit: Stephen Stubbs conducting & Kevin C. Devine at 2nd harpsichord [photo (c.) Gary Payne]
Peter Kozma’s clever set design included arches, pillars, a bridge, and a building facade all constructed by sleekly choreographed chorus members using large cubes, triangles and cylinders–think adult-sized legos. On the one hand, these quickly assembled bits of scenery helped suggest the plot’s changing locations, but of equal importance, the choreography helped assuage the glacial pace at which Baroque opera plots unfold, a worthy consideration since contemporary opera audiences are accustomed to the insistent dramatic pace of late the Verdi operas and the works of his verismo successors. This production chose contemporary fashion for the principle characters with the direction of Costume Coordinator Chanel Mahoney. Serse’s tailored, bright ochre suit and his brother’s deep blue sharkskin suit symbolized their rank, as did military uniforms for Ariodate and Amastre–another cross-dressing part of Handel’s amusing menagerie. Sisters Romilda Atalanta sported fancy couture; it was hard to miss Atalanta’s chic high heels which she donned while singing her aria!
This Opera NEO production opened on August 13, 2021, in the Palisades Amphitheater in the Allied Gardens district of San Diego. It will be repeated on August 15.