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Los Angeles Opera David Daniels and Elizabeth Futral play Caesar and Cleopatra in Los Angeles Opera's production of Handel's "Giulio Cesare" at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

By John Mangum

Daily Bruin Contributor

Los Angeles Opera’s “Giulio Cesare” has a split personality.

Their latest production, which was unveiled last Friday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, juxtaposed several accomplished performances alongside a few disappointing ones. The staging itself went from delightful at one moment to infuriating the next. It was a night of ups and downs.

Eighteenth-century composer George Frideric Handel’s score was glorious, exactly what one would expect from the man who wrote one of classical music’s most rousing numbers, the “Hallelujah” chorus.

Handel’s opera follows Caesar through a maze of romantic and political intrigue in Egypt after he defeats his rival, Pompey, in battle. Ptolemy, co-ruler of Egypt with his sister Cleopatra, execute Pompey and give his head to Caesar as a welcome gift. This sets events in motion, with all the characters aligning against Ptolemy, driven alternately by lust, grief, or opportunism. The opera ends with Ptolemy’s death and the triumph of Caesar and Cleopatra.

The L.A. Opera’s orchestra provided a splendid performance of Handel’s score under conductor Harry Bicket. Bicket, a rising star on the international music scene, coaxed a captivating performance from the orchestra, among whom violinist James Stark and principal horn Steven Becknell deserve special mention for delivering two of Handel’s taxing instrumental solos with aplomb.

The cast was a mixed bag. Soprano Elizabeth Futral delivered a vocally resplendent performance as Cleopatra, with an alluring stage presence. In Futral’s hands, the character transformed from a coquettish seductress to a regal queen. Futral gave a show-stopping rendition of Cleopatra’s final triumphant aria, making it simultaneously powerful and agile.

L.A. Opera regular Suzanna Guzmàn, as the beheaded Pompey’s despondent wife Cornelia, gave the character the air of a 19th-century tragic heroine. Her singing was noble and accomplished.

As Cornelia’s son Sextus, mezzo-soprano Paula Rasmussen returned following her appearance in last season’s “Hansel and Gretel.” Her powerful singing reverberated through the theater but she also scaled her voice down beautifully when the music required it, as in Sextus’ ravishing aria in Act One.

The size of the theater provided a daunting challenge to the men in the cast, a challenge not all of them met. Among the much-hyped three countertenors, Bejun Mehta delivered the best performance as the evil Ptolemy. Mehta’s singing was dramatic and powerful, filled with the venom of his character.

In the title role, David Daniels was disappointing. His L.A. Opera debut was much-anticipated but failed to live up to expectations created by the fanfare of rave reviews and recordings preceding his arrival.

Daniels’ voice, though agile, sounded small in the 3,000-plus seat Chandler Pavilion, and he could not provide a dramatic presence on the stage. Silly costumes (including a kind of leisure suit/army uniform and a gleaming silver turtle-shell of a breastplate) only made him seem less Caesar-esque. To give Daniels the benefit of the doubt, however, he stepped down for Sunday’s performance because of an infected vocal cord, and this probably accounts for his disappointing showing Friday night.

The final countertenor, David Walker, commanded the stage as Nirenus, Cleopatra’s confidante who, in this production, was rendered as a sort of elfin genie nudging the characters in the right direction. However, his voice lacked the distinction of his stage presence and his single aria was a disappointment.

There were some great moments in director Francisco Negrin’s production, such as the interplay between Cleopatra and Ptolemy during their first scene together and the ritual solemnity of Cornelia’s scene at Pompey’s tomb. But there were also moments that interrupted the music, unnecessarily moving characters around the stage in a way that duped the audience into thinking an aria was over and applauding just as the singer was warming up.

The production placed the cast in two different sorts of sets. The first, an austere unit set, decorated with hieroglyphs on one side and a plain gray texture on the other, provided an unobtrusive background against which events could unfold. The second kind, accented by Cleopatra’s bath and Ptolemy’s harem, looked slightly shabby, appearing to need a new coat of paint.

Overall, the performance vacillated between the sublime and the exasperating. L.A. Opera’s “Caesar” is worth investigating, especially for anyone interested in 18th-century music or something off the beaten path.

OPERA: L.A. Opera presents Handel’s “Julius Caesar” March 2, 4, 7, and 10. $20 student and senior rush tickets available one hour prior to curtain. For information, call (213) 972-8001 or visit www.laopera.org.

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