Spotlight: Acis & Galatea
Opening Friday, July 24th, Valkyrie Ensemble's Acis & Galatea is a sunbeam. The production brings some well-deserved levity and clever narrative drapings to Handel’s pastoral opera. Director Alannah Spencer has done a charming job playfully contextualizing the piece around a public pool on a hot summer day. The cast of four balances Handel's Baroque melismas with some flirty fun during the production's 100-minute runtime.
You'll like this if:
- You love yourself some good, well-sung, old-fashioned Handel
- You appreciate clever settings for classics
- You have a soft spot for the days when nothing was so high-stakes (or low-stakes) as roughhousing by the pool
- You could use a smile after a long week
Quick note - this venue is not wheelchair-accessible.
Acis & Galatea
The Valkyrie Ensemble
July 24, 25 – 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Chicago Danztheatre
650 W Foster Ave, Chicago, IL 60640
The Valkyrie Ensemble – a non-profit feminist opera collective based in Chicago – presents an all-femme production of composer G.F. Handel and librettist John Gay’s glittering Baroque gem Acis & Galatea.
Based on a tale from Greek Mythology, Acis & Galatea tells the story of the water nymph Galatea and her mortal love, Acis. When the cyclops Polyphemus falls in love with Galatea at first sight, jealousy threatens to upend the peaceful lovers. Originally performed in 1718 in an outdoor performance to commemorate the building of a new fountain, The Valkyrie Ensemble’s production sets the action poolside as the tale of young love unfolds under the heat of the summer sun. Acis & Galatea is an English-language opera with a 90-minute run time. The production will be presented with piano accompaniment.
General Admission tickets are $35, and reserved front row tickets are $55.
