{"id":424094,"date":"2026-08-05T02:33:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T02:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/424094\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T02:33:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T02:33:06","slug":"review-west-edge-operas-comic-book-rinaldo-takes-handel-on-a-wild-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/424094\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: West Edge Opera\u2019s comic book \u2018Rinaldo\u2019 takes Handel on a wild ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Edge Opera\u2019s\u00a0\u201cRinaldo,\u201d\u00a0a staging\u00a0in Oakland with glorious singing and an over-the- top design concept, is\u00a0a wild ride.<\/p>\n

Director Keturah\u00a0Stickann\u00a0sets\u00a0the 1711 opera, Handel\u2019s first and most popular opera for the London stage, not in the Crusades as in the original,\u00a0but in the world of\u00a0superheroes.<\/p>\n

\"\"L-R, Kyle Tingzon sings Rinaldo and Nikki Einfeld is Armida in West Edge Opera\u2019s production of Handel\u2019s \u201cRinaldo\u201d onstage in Oakland through Aug. 15. (Cory Weaver via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

Countertenor Kyle Tingzon as Rinaldo shows his superhero vocal and physical muscles at the outset.\u00a0 Caped in blue and in constant flexing mode, he is employed by the police force and has as his sidekicks a police chief and a dancing team of\u00a0cops;\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0opera \u00e0 la Batman, Superman and Dick Tracy.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0sorceress\u00a0Armida, swathed in shiny feathers, is every bit his counterpart.\u00a0 Soprano Nikki\u00a0Einfeld, protected by dancing Furies who also rob banks,\u00a0possesses\u00a0equal coloratura flair and flex.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0it seems that the cops-and-robbers concept\u00a0gets in the way of the music at times, it does, until the ultimate superhero steps in: Handel.<\/p>\n

The \u201cRinaldo\u201d\u00a0score in this reduced version (2 1\/2 hours) offers\u00a0aria\u00a0after aria of glorious musical narrative, beginning with Tingzon\u2019s \u201cCaro\u00a0sposa,\u201d an expression of love for\u00a0Almirena.<\/p>\n

As Almirena, soprano Shawnette Sulker gets\u00a0off\u00a0to\u00a0a slow start;\u00a0she\u00a0wins\u00a0a big hand for the well-known showstopper \u201cLascia\u00a0ch\u2019io\u00a0pianga\u201d (instantly recognized as\u00a0the famed\u00a0\u201cLascia\u00a0la spina\u201d from\u00a0an\u00a0oratorio\u00a0Handel wrote and revised).<\/p>\n

\"\"L-R, Efra\u00edn Sol\u00eds sings Argante and Shawnette Sulker sings Almirena in West Edge Opera\u2019s \u201cRinaldo\u201d onstage in Oakland through Aug. 15. (Cory Weaver via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

The\u00a0sorceress\u00a0Armida\u00a0has a\u00a0companion in villain Argante, sung\u00a0by\u00a0Efrain\u00a0Solis in a\u00a0burnished, supple\u00a0baritone. Solis shows a highly refined comic side, too, and contralto Sara Couden as Rinaldo\u2019s sidekick Goffredo\u00a0is\u00a0in top-flight voice and hilarious in dealing with his team of high-stepping police officers.<\/p>\n

Liliana Duque-Pi\u00f1ero\u2019s simple set shows two empty rooms in which the forces of good and evil interact and\u00a0Yuki Izumihara\u2019s vivid abstract projections\u00a0offer the\u00a0occasional explosive\u00a0\u201czap\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0kapow!\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a018-player orchestra led by\u00a0Emily Senturia\u00a0features\u00a0a harpsichord passage written by Handel for himself, dashingly\u00a0executed by\u00a0Julian Garvue.<\/p>\n

West Edge Opera\u2019s \u201cRinaldo\u201d continues at 8\u00a0p.m. Aug. 8\u00a0and 2\u00a0p.m. Aug. 15\u00a0at Oakland Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland. Tickets are $22-$182\u00a0at\u00a0westedgeopera.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

The post Review:\u00a0\u00a0West Edge Opera\u2019s comic book\u00a0\u2018Rinaldo\u2019 takes Handel on a wild ride\u00a0\u00a0<\/a> appeared first on Local News Matters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Edge Opera\u2019s\u00a0\u201cRinaldo,\u201d\u00a0a staging\u00a0in Oakland with glorious singing and an over-the- top design concept, is\u00a0a wild ride. Director…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-424094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}