For two weekends, The Long Beach Opera presented the world premiere of Isola at the recently opened art gallery and restaurant COMPOUND in Long Beach. Everything came together in this production and venue to provide a delight for all the artistic senses. Isola was wonderfully directed by George R. Miller, the superb music by Alyssa Weinberg created the perfect atmosphere, and set designer Prairie T. Trivuth constructed a condensed and mysterious environment for Soprano Ariadne Greif and choreographer/dancer Julia Eichten to weave their creation of isolation, anger and longing so genuinely expressed in the Libretto and Poetry by J. Mae Barizo.
With a neon sign outside stating “You Belong Here”, the COMPOUND is spacious, elegant and very modern. Once inside the large black box style space, however, one’s world shifted into a completely different milieu apart from the rest of the world. In the center was a large glass side coffin-like box with beach or swamp grass growing from its top and surrounded by water and slightly raised areas composed of what appeared to be vermiculite, simulating almost all black sand.
Ms. Barizo’s parents migrated from an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean before her birth. Trivuth’s set does give the appearance of an island or similar isolated setting. Barizo wrote the poem in 2020 during the COVID pandemic which must have inspired and influenced the extreme sense of isolation and internalized feelings that exude from The Long Beach Opera’s production of Isola.
Long Beach Opera – Julie Eichten in “Isola” – Photo by J.J. Geiger
When the audience was ushered into the theater space, a naked woman (Eichten) lay inside the glass box with her hands resting on her chest, as if asleep. A second woman (Greif) dressed in an off-white dress walks onto the set, surveys the area and then sits with her feet in the water. The audience was seated around three sides of the room and on one end were three musicians Mona Tian (Violin 1, Concertmaster), Adrianne Pope (Principal Violin 2) and Mia Barcia-Columbo (Principal Cello). Opposite them and placed between audience members was David Saldana (Electronics) and Lucy tucker Yates (Music Director and Conductor); all except Saldana dressed in white.
Long Beach Opera – Julie Eichten and Ariadne Greif in “Isola” – Photo by J.J. Geiger.
With a few exceptions, throughout the performance both performers moved very slowly as if hindered by their confinement. The two women were as one person; Greif’s character in reality and Eichten physicalized her internal feelings that were entrapped inside her head. Even when they physically embraced, the two women never seemed to entirely connect, but still shared a oneness that was difficult to pinpoint. There was a struggle between the two personae, but also a seldom expressed love.
Long Beach Opera – Ariadne Greif and Julie Eichten in “Isola” – Photo by J.J. Geiger.
Miller utilized the entire space as the main character expressed herself through song. Ariadne Greif is a beautiful singer and actress, and she and Eichten were brave to wade through, lie in the water and sand, and perform nude or semi-nude.
Eichten’s choreography was minimal but extremely dense with meaning and she performed it to perfection. I loved how she choreographed the costume changes she helped make with Greif that, for me, represented the shifting of thought and/or emotion. Eichten is a graduate of the Juilliard School, a founding member of L.A. Dance Project, and a current member of AMOC (American Modern Opera Company).
Long Beach Opera – Ariadne Greif in “Isola” – Photo by J.J. Geiger.
Lighting Designer Jasmine Lesane deserves recognition and kudos for how she shifted the environment from external to internal.
Founded in 1979, the Long Beach Opera is well known for its cutting-edge interpretations of unconventional repertoire and its selection of alternative performance venues such as parking garages, art theaters, and the Noguchi Garden in Costa Mesa.
Long Beach Opera – Julie Eichten and Ariadne Greif in “Isola” – Photo by J.J. Geiger.
Isola is a absorbing opera and hopefully the Long Beach Opera will bring it back so that more people can be entranced by its mystery.
For more information about the Long Beach Opera, please visit their website.
To learn more about the COMPOUND, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Long Beach Opera – Ariadne Greif in Isola – Photo by J.J. Geiger.
