MUSIC REVIEW : S.D. Comic Opera Turns ‘Beggar’s Opera’ Into Slapstick

San Diego Comic Opera made its bow Friday night with a raucous period production of John Gay’s bawdy musical parody “The Beggar’s Opera.” It would be refreshing to report that, after a decade as the San Diego Gilbert & Sullivan Company, the revamped company emerged from its cocoon a glorious Monarch butterfly. In fact, this caterpillar was barely given a face lift.

Company artistic director Leon Natker’s choice of “The Beggar’s Opera” may be a welcome sign of his commitment to the broadest definition of comic opera. In early 18th-Century London, this ballad opera, which is arguably the first musical comedy, was the “Phantom of the Opera” of its day in sheer popular appeal. And its political sneer was every bit as sharp as that of Gary Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” characters.

Viewing polite society as a gang of thieves and prostitutes--with not enough hearts-of-gold to go around--was John Gay’s clever conceit for “The Beggar’s Opera.” Macheath, a stylish, womanizing highwayman, successfully leads his band of thieves and pickpockets until he marries the daughter of Mr. Peachum, a fence and informer, who turns his new son-in-law over to the authorities to collect the reward money. The philandering British Prime Minister Robert Walpole was the target of Gay’s political humor, and imported Italian operas the butt of his musical parody.

As this production’s stage director, Natker apparently did not trust the enduring qualities of “The Beggar’s Opera.” His energetic cast swashed and buckled with brio, pumping up the comedy to the point of slapstick. Wit and poise, virtues as authentic to the period as the harpsichord in the orchestra pit, were conspicuously absent.

Typical of comedic overkill was the staging of the second scene’s drinking song, “Fill Ev’ry Glass.” Macheath’s gang members were so sloshed that they slurred their words and fell down in a drunken stupor by the final cadence. Three minutes later they were on their feet stone-cold sober to sing their exit chorus, “Let Us Take the Road” (a march Gay’s music arranger Johann Pepusch stole from a Handel opera), and they marched off stage with military precision.

Natker needed half a dozen clones of soprano Leann Sandel, who sang Polly Peachum, Macheath’s most recent and nearly fatal bride. The saucy Sandel sailed through her opera aria parodies with graceful aplomb. Her creamy soprano scattered stylish vocal ornaments and dallied over languorous portamenti. She relished her role without resorting to exaggeration.

Lacking ardor and flamboyance, William Nolan’s Macheath seemed less like a rakish Don Giovanni and more like the Don’s confused servant, Leporello. Nolan’s ample baritone bloomed pleasantly in duets and ensembles of a broader tempo, although his tongue did not trip lightly in the patter songs.

With a dollop of well-modulated swagger, Ed Hollingsworth made a convincing Mr. Peachum, and mezzo-soprano Fran Bjorneby Kraemer as Mrs. Peachum complemented his scheming bravado with knowing asides and a lively vocal line. ‘The Beggar’s Opera’

Written by John Gay; music arranged by J.C. Pepusch and Frederic Austin. Directed by Leon Natker; conducted by Hollace Koman. Set design by J. Sherwood Montgomery; lighting by Ron Vodicka; costumes by Jeanne Reith. With William Murray, Ed Hollingsworth, Fran Bjorneby Kraemer, Leann Sandel, William Nolan, Russ Simbari, Diane Winterton, Richard Wright, Anita Colet and Kellie Evans-O’Connor. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2:30 p.m. At the Casa del Prado Theatre, Balboa Park. (619) 231-5714.