THEATER REVIEW : ‘Pearls’ Deconstructs Greek Archetypes in Four One-Acts

What’s a goddess to do? Immutable and divine, she brims with the unbridled appetites of eternal youth. Unfortunately, that hunky mortal youth who turned her head some 20 years ago has succumbed to the ravages of time. He doesn’t bother to shave now and has a beer belly the size of Mt. Olympus.

Meet Diana and Bud, the comically mismatched couple in one of four short original operas within “String of Pearls,” at the Met.

Derived largely from Greco-Roman drama and myth, the mini-operas in “Pearls” corkscrew the classical conventions into a thoroughly modern helix, bristling with sharp edges and offbeat humor. Under the aegis of artistic director O-Lan Jones, this serendipitous conjunction of talent yields an audaciously experimental entertainment that deconstructs some famous archetypes of antiquity.

The consequences of Diana and Bud’s earthly love is illustrated in “Goddess of the Hunt,” music by J. Raoul Brody, libretto by Merle Kessler. Director Jill Ackles gets plenty of laughs out of this fractured fable, in which the long-suffering Diana (Julie Christensen) lowers the boom on her philandering mortal consort (Tom McLeister). Not that Bud hasn’t strayed before. But this time, he’s dallying with Death (Jolie Jackunas), an insult that Diana cannot ignore.

“Herakles and Hydra,” music by Jones, libretto by Tim Schmolder, is the most serious offering on the bill. A myth with a twist, “Herakles” dramatizes man’s eternal struggle against his baser nature, metaphorically epitomized by Herakles (John Michael Morgan) and his sinuous nemesis, the Hydra (Joan Elizabeth). The twist? It is Herakles, the pawn/spawn of fickle Zeus, who proves the real monster in this tale of compulsive love, balletically staged by Jones.

While wandering in the desert, four dusty travelers refuse to admit that they are dying of thirst. Imagine the last scene of “Greed” as a commedia and you’ll get some idea of “Modesto,” music by Beth Custer, libretto by John Pappas. Crisply staged by Maryedith Burrell, this arcane but funny parable, deftly performed by Morgan, Darby Rowe, Gracie Moore and John Apicella, lampoons the silliness of social contrivances and subterfuge.

The highlight of the evening is “Happy Hour Becomes Electra,” directed by Leon Martell, with music by Richard Marriott and libretto by Kathleen Cramer. The bratty Electra (Susan Marie Brecht) plots to destroy her good-time-gal mom Clytemnestra (Susan Krebs). Electra enlists her brother Orestes (J.D. Cullum) in her plot, only to learn that Orestes is more interested in his mother’s gelt than her gore. An obnoxious yuppie chorus (Apicella and Jackunas) underscores the action in this hilarious, high-energy parody.

The librettos sometimes verge on the abstruse, and the singer-performers (some of whom are double-cast) frequently get lost in Glass-ian atonalities, despite the efforts of music director Tim Emmons and an excellent small orchestra. On the whole, however, these short operas are indeed pearls, polished by the Muses.

* “String of Pearls,” Met Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Oct. 1. $15. (213) 957-1152. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.