Gotham Chamber Opera's "El gato con botas (Puss in Boots)"

Now here's a poor cat in a whole lotta trouble--and sans boots. But just you wait!
(photo: Richard Termine)

Are you tired of Nutcrackers? Want something a little different this season?

Then head to El Museo del Barrio where Gotham Chamber Opera and Tectonic Theater Project bring the fun with their opera/puppet show production of composer Xavier Montsalvatge's El gato con botas (Puss in Boots), directed by Moisés Kaufman and conducted by Neal Goren.

Yes, fairy tale fun for all ages. I'm sure the adults among you will have more nightmares from staring at the looming, lurching Ogre (the excellent bass Kevin Burdette) than will the little kiddies.

The Ogre in his dark castle
(photo: Richard Termine)

What you'll have to watch for with the kids is that they, like you, will fall in love with the desperate, wily Cat and take away the lesson that lying is an acceptable practice. Oh, wait. They've already learned that from the news.

Hmmm. The wiliness of this cat might be no match for the survival instincts of these rabbits.
(photo: Richard Termine)

A poor miller (baritone Craig Verm) receives an inheritance. Hooray? Not quite.

It's not riches. It's a big-eyed orange tabby (voiced last night by the supple mezzo-soprano Karin Mushegain), scrawny, trembling, weeping at the man's swift rejection. But this is one determined cat. Facing sure death, kitty brainstorms an elaborate plan to bring good fortune--and the love of a good woman--into the life of this simple (and clearly not PETA-friendly) fellow.

The cat knows a thing or two about gullibility and works it, and the forces of nature, to amazing effect. Along the way, we get to enjoy some deliriously amusing Bunraku puppetry by London's Blind Summit Theatre and choreography by Seán Curran.

As it turns out, so many lives are saved--and changed--by the actions of one feline who would not take no for an answer. Sure, take your kids. That's a damn good lesson.

El gato con botas continues through this weekend on the following schedule:

Thursday, December 11, 7pm
Friday, December 12, 7pm
Saturday, December 13, 2pm
Saturday, December 13, 7pm
Sunday, December 14, 2pm

For more information and tickets, click here.

El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Avenue (between 104th and 105th Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

I'm over the moon!

But I'm also bummed out that Gotham Chamber Opera will be coming down to earth soon, ending its run of Il mondo della luna (The World on the Moon) after this Thursday. It's the kind of show that should stick around long enough for you to nag every one of your friends to see it. But, alas!

Trimming this tasty Haydn farce to a lively 90 minutes and staging it under the world-famous projection dome of the Hayden Planetarium were strokes of genius. Kudos to Gotham's artistic director/conductor Neal Goren and the production's director, Diane Paulus, last noted for the hit Broadway revival of Hair.

Gotham's orchestra plays on a raised platform beneath the dome as marvelous singers enact the story and an explosion of stars, galaxies and Alex Grey-style psychedelica dazzle the eye. In this comic tale, Buonafede (Marco Nisticò) gets scammed by a so-called astronomer (Nicholas Coppolo), his own daughters (Hanan Alattar and Albina Shagimuratova), his maid/mistress (Rachel Calloway) and a couple of the women's suitors (Matthew Tuell and Timothy Kuhn). The conspirators drug him and convince Buonafede that they have all been transported to the moon, where women know their place--firmly under the thumb of their men. Nisticò, guesting from the Metropolitan Opera, brings such a warm, mellifluous tone to his characterization of the blatantly sexist, remarkably gullible Buonafede that you almost feel empathy for the man. Almost!

There's also no lack of slick, driving charm in Coppollo's performance or winning effervescence in the three beauteous ladies--Alattar, Shagimuratova and Calloway--as Haydn's 18th Century metronomic perkiness inspires their Supremes-style choreography. Don't get the wrong impression, though: With a farce this broad, so much could have been overdone, but it's not. The music and singing are allowed their lyrical delicacy, and even the projections and fantasy costumes are more fizzy than bombastic.

The planetarium's seating might not lend itself to comfort over the long haul, but it was a treat to be in there anyway for a purpose other than scientific/educational. Kind of subversive! Clever staging, set manipulation and the resilience of the performers--in physically demanding roles--make the production not only work efficiently but continuously surprise and amuse. If performers truly do catch energy from audiences, this cast must have loved our crowd, for they were always near enough to us to hear our every chuckle, and there were many chuckles for them to savor.

Hurrah for Gotham! And hurry! Maybe you can still snare a ticket for the moon!

8pm tonight, tomorrow and Thursday

Il mondo della luna

Hayden Planetarium
American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space
81st Street (between Central Park West & Columbus Avenue), Manhattan

Over the moon: Haydn at the Hayden

A Space Opera in A Proper Galaxy
by Matthew Gurewitsch, The New York Times, January 14, 2010