Ventura College’s ‘Hobson’s Choice’ Makes the Grade

New operas are being written at a furious pace these days, and one need not turn automatically to name-brand companies to find them. Ventura College’s enterprising Opera Workshop has been polishing and presenting an evening-length piece by veteran composer John Biggs, “Hobson’s Choice”--and caught in the middle of its run Friday night, it holds your attention.

The opera is based on a Harold Brighouse play (later made into a film starring Charles Laughton, and a TV movie), where an irascible boot shop owner watches his business go down the tubes after alienating his strong-willed daughter and her timid, master-craftsman husband. To this end, Biggs keeps a genteel, pleasant commentary from an eight-piece ensemble running underneath singable, easily understood vocal lines, with a few inventive quirks--like rhyming “easy” with “queasy.”

Nothing from the score grabs you by the lapels, and it could use some trimming; it takes 2 1/2 hours before you are finally confronted with Hobson’s choice. But, like the competently made boots in Hobson’s shop, Biggs’ music comfortably serves its purpose when it propels the plot.

If the opera is ever revived, wouldn’t it be fun and meaningful to the local community to take the setting out of musty old Philadelphia, circa 1880, and place it in one of the outlet malls that lines the 101 freeway? Yet, within the historical time frame, director Vicki Harrop seizes the intimate strengths of the tiny black-box Circus Theatre, keeping stage traffic moving in livelier fashion than many a big company, with local antique shops providing authentic furniture.

Actor Gene Brundage sings old man Hobson in a reedy voice with a bumptious air, Karen Sonnenschein brings poignancy as well as formidability to his daughter, Maggie, and Biggs conducts a nimble ensemble crammed into a closet-size corner of the theater. And kudos to whomever had the clever idea of serving wedding cake at intermissions, since offstage weddings take place between acts.

“Hobson’s Choice” continues Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Ventura College’s Circus Theatre. $12-$18. (805) 654-6459.