Here’s the pitch: A rich mélange of sex, crime and politics when the hit Netflix series House of Cards meets a classic early Italian opera. That’s what audiences can expect to see onstage April 23-26 when CU-Boulder’s Eklund Opera Program stages the 17th-century drama, L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), by Claudio Montiverdi, the inventor of opera.
“It’s a loose account of the sex, lies, suicide and politics surrounding the reign of the married Emperor Nero and his ambitious mistress, Poppea,” says Eklund Opera Director Leigh Holman. “I couldn’t help but notice the resonance with our own times, so our production is inspired by House of Cards, but set in the near future so we aren’t confined to particular historical facts or questions.”
Like the popular drama, which stars Kevin Spacey as a ruthless and ambitious U.S. senator from South Carolina, Poppea turns conventional morality on its head. In the opera, “Virtue is punished and greed rewarded,” Holman says.
The production features contemporary dress on a set hearkening back to the Roman Empire. Performances are sung in Italian with English surtitles.
“Our smaller theater is the optimum place to do early music like this,” the director says. “The style of singing is more confined, with less vibrato. The vocal style is even sometimes loosely compared to pop music of our time.”
The set features a mirror above the stage to allow audiences to “experience actors, sets, props—everything—with a 360-degree view at all times,” Holman says.
L’incoronazione di Poppea; 7:30 p.m. April 23-25; 2 p.m. April 26. At Music Theatre, Imig Music Building, CU Boulder, $16 and up. Info: www.cupresents.org or 303-492-8008.