WESTSIDE / VALLEY : Rewards in Obscure Mozart Opera

Thanks to “Amadeus” (the play and subsequent movie), everyone has a glimmering acquaintance with the genius Mozart--how abundant his creative outpourings were, how frustrating the circumstances of his career, how frenetic the personal life surrounding it.

So could the revival of a long-languishing Mozart opera really cause amazement?

No, say conductor David Anglin and stage director Kenneth Danziger, the enterprising pair in charge of Euterpe Opera’s “Zaide,” which opens Saturday for three performances at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in what is believed to be a local premiere.

“The truth is,” says Danziger, a Londoner transplanted to Los Angeles where he has appeared in numerous TV sitcoms and dramas, “that ‘Zaide’ is a haunting piece, one with immediacy of feeling and gorgeous music. It’s not known, but it’s definitely not minor.”

Anglin agrees: “We put it on our short list of worthy works that could be staged at the Ford with limited resources. But it belonged there even without considering practical matters.”

It’s also clear that a certain missionary impulse to choose “Zaide” moved the conductor--who has led touring performances of San Francisco’s Western Opera Theater, among other credits, and has upcoming assignments with the Music Center Opera.

“To think that Constanze (Mozart’s wife) saved the score and didn’t use it to line jam pots,” Anglin jokes, “is really something to celebrate. After all, we must remember that money was tight, paper was scarce, and ‘Wolfie’ (as in Wolfgang Amadeus) could always come up with new music as needed.”

Mozart, it turns out, couldn’t find a presenter for his opera in the beloved German style (the Viennese having been smitten by the more popular Italian works he composed for them), so he simply discarded it unfinished. As it stands, “Zaide,” named for the heroine, has only two acts, each 45 minutes. But the score contains two brilliant ensemble numbers and an aria (“Ruhe Sanft”) that, Anglin says, is often excerpted.

Like most of the composer’s operas, this one deals with unrequited love and follows its protagonists on the path to humanity through sacrifice and enlightenment. The story takes place in Turkey and concerns two European slaves (the lovers) who are held captive by the sultan.

Three years after abandoning the work, Mozart turned to the same setting for “Abduction From the Seraglio,” also in the style of singspiel (a seriocomic piece with music).

The challenge facing any producer of this opera is to affix an overture. Anglin has chosen from among Mozart’s hundreds of suitable pieces the short Sinfonia, K. 318. For the finale, which he leads into with the concert aria K. 383, the conductor will reprise the opening chorus.

He has at his disposal a cast of 10 and an orchestra of 26. Both Anglin and Danziger are happy with the natural grotto site that the Ford offers. Its alfresco setting “is just perfect,” says the director, since the opening act takes place in a garden. Thus a set is required only for the second act, an interior.

But holding to a bare-bones budget is a small price to pay, they argue, for staging “Zaide” in a city with so many talented singers. Several cast members--the principals include Patricia Prunty, Beau Palmer, Roberto Gomez, Perrin Allen and William Adams--have already made notable debuts with the Music Center Opera and similarly prestigious companies.

It does mean, however, that everyone works double jobs. Anglin, for instance, is helping with rehearsals for the Music Center Opera’s “Lucia” as accompanist, and Danziger is preparing a production of E. A. Whitehead’s “Old Flames” for Theatre 40.

“Still,” Danziger says, “we’re not cutting artistic corners. And most important, ‘Zaide’ will emerge with its integrity intact. The sultan, to give you an example, does not enter riding a motorcycle,” he explains, drawing a contrast between his production and the kind of postmodern revisionism often practiced on today’s opera stages.

“The trick is to make the thing intelligible, to build in increments to an emotional clarification. There is one antic moment, but I would never call the opera comic, except in the sense of human comedy, which is so allied to the pathos that comes pouring from the music.”

Anglin also approaches “Zaide” with great admiration.

“This is Mozart taking risks,” he says. “The melodrama you get here is audacious stuff. It’s as if Beethoven were tiptoeing into the room. It’s even similar to what (Carl Maria von) Weber did later on.”

One implicit advantage for Anglin and Danziger is that they will not have to bear comparison with other productions, celebrated or otherwise, since “Zaide” is rarely performed anywhere.

But for Euterpe Opera Theatre, the sponsoring company, this effort represents a distinct advancement. Since its inception in 1924, the modest enterprise with the quaint name had put on popular operas, accompanied by two pianos, as matinees for children and retirees.

Last year, however, Anglin was particularly eager to find himself more local opportunities after returning from a European stint. He called the company, saying, as he recalls, “You stage operas, and I’m a conductor, so let’s get together.

“Essentially, that was all it took. We settled on a Haydn work. I called my musician friends and said: ‘If you play, I’ll barbecue.’ ”

Humor aside, Anglin and his cohorts received a glowing notice in these pages. As a result, he says, a call came from those organizing Summer Nights at the Ford, requesting a proposal from Anglin and Euterpe for the inaugural season of this performing arts series.

“We decided on ‘Zaide’ because it is special,” Anglin says. “And I couldn’t imagine a better cast to introduce it. Now audiences don’t have to go to Santa Fe to get Mozart in the open air.”

“Zaide” will be performed at 8 p.m. Saturday and June 18 and 19 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Tickets: $25. Call (213) 466-1767.