Bowl is alive with theater

Now that its newly revamped Hollywood Bowl is complete, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is putting a new face on another relic from its past -- theater at the Bowl -- as part of its eclectic classical series. Crafted to exploit the venue’s physical and technological update, the series will pay homage to classical music’s versatility and to the Bowl’s history.

The expanded size of the Bowl’s stage and enhanced projection equipment have made several theatrical programs feasible. Among the offerings this summer will be a presentation of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” featuring a full orchestra, a chorus, a children’s chorus, a blues ensemble and a rock ensemble, actors and dancers. The Martha Graham Dance Company will perform one of Graham’s signature pieces to Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” featuring original 1944 Isamu Noguchi sets.

“When we planned the season in this new shell, that was one of the first things we decided to do,” Chad Smith, the Philharmonic Assn.’s artistic administrator, said of “Mass.” “Bernstein has a history at the Bowl, and with the L.A. Philharmonic, so it seemed only appropriate.”

Tonight’s series launch, Felix Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is another echo from the past. Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the production is a first-time collaboration with the Glendale-based A Noise Within. The theater company will present a full staging of Shakespeare’s text as noted by Mendelssohn in his score.

The Philharmonic’s first theatrical experience with the work was the famed 1934 production, directed by Max Reinhardt as a true spectacle, with a cast of 400 that included young Mickey Rooney as Puck and 200 torch-bearing fairy sprites making their entrance from the hillside.

A Noise Within’s staging, with 21 actors, will be more restrained, setting Shakespeare’s tale of enchanted lovers, fairy mischief and bumbling players in early 1800s Europe to give it a “romantic, airy, classic feel,” said Julia Rodriguez Elliott, the theater’s co-artistic director.

To avoid it looking simply like a performance in front of the orchestra, the action will take place on 16-foot-tall topiaries and other architectural pieces surrounding the orchestra, so the musicians will be “part of the world of the play,” Elliott said. “You have to find the evocative pieces that give you a sense of what that world is but be very spare because, really, the evening is about the L.A. Phil.”

Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, who have the lead vocal roles in Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony on Thursday, will sing smaller roles tonight.

Later this month, soprano Renee Fleming will perform in a solo concert at the Bowl. Another performance will showcase the grand piano with a juxtaposition of John Adams’ “Grand Pianola Music” and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”).

“We felt that by doing special projects,” said Ed Yim, the association’s director of artistic planning, “it makes the ‘more traditional’ Hollywood Bowl program fresher.”