January 21, 2005
THEATER BEAT
For a show with his name in the title, we learn little about
Gaveston from "Gaveston, Favourite of the King," an ungainly new
chamber opera about Edward II, England's legendary "gay" monarch,
immortalized in Christopher Marlowe's play and Derek Jarman's film.
But then, this Gaveston (Charles Alan) is less a character than
Edward's (Beau Puckett) precocious queer conscience, challenging this
insufficiently "out" public figure to name "what century"
they might embrace openly. Lest we miss the point, Gaveston concludes: "No
century will let us live side by side."
Director Derek Charles Livingston wants to bring this point home
by setting the action in modern dress. But rather than highlight the struggle
of same-sex couples for basic civil rights, this choice only makes us wonder
what might happen to a contemporary world leader who paraded with a lover of
any gender, to whom he'd deeded large, contested swaths of land.
The modern setting also presents us with such unfortunate
spectacles as a battle consisting of an ensemble in fatigues stomping around
the tiny space and facing off in close range with toy machine guns.
Christopher Winslow's ambitious score for piano, violin and cello
has some unexpectedly hummable anthems amid its Britten-esque noodling, and Ken
Prestininzi's libretto likewise manages a few evocative dialogues and images
amid a legion of cliches about "what happens to a man when he loves."
Among a gamely earnest cast, Blanche Ramirez delivers some rich
arias as a beatific nun, and Jack Harding deliciously overplays the conflicted
heavy, Lord Mortimer. Still, it's a bad sign for an opera when its best scene
is a disarmingly sincere prayer montage that's spoken, not sung.
Rob
Kendt
"Gaveston, Favourite
of the King," Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. 8
p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends Feb. 20. $25. (323)
957-1884 or www.celebrationtheatre.com. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.