Cyclops: A Rock Opera

Psittacus Productions at and with the Son of Semele Ensemble

Reviewed by Jennie Webb

February 10, 2011


Is this your first Satyr play? You're probably not alone. Euripides' "Cyclops" is apparently the only surviving example of this most raucous and bawdy style of Greek comedy. And if "Cyclops: A Rock Opera" isn't exactly what you expected from a modern adaptation, well, who knows what that old tragedian Euripides might say? Psittacus Productions gives us a fast-and-furious rock 'n' roll take on an almost forgotten form in which style trumps substance. Who needs story when you've got a live band on stage composed of horny half-men, half-goats and a chorus of frenzied maidens in lingerie?

Louis Butelli, Chas LiBretto, and Robert Richmond share credit for directing and "freely" adapting "Cyclops: A Rock Opera," which is constructed around a one-night-only performance of a band called "The Satyrs." An energized Butelli is the lead singer, clad—as are all the band's members—in marvelously furry chaps and given to bleating and stamping his hoof, er, foot. He is also the leader of the satyrs within the "play," and the other strong musician-actors are part of the bacchanalian action as well: Paul Corning on bass, Stephen Edelestein on drums, and Benjamin Sherman on lead guitar. Sherman and Jayson Landon Marcus, playing guitar and taking on the role of the dreaded Cyclops, wrote the music for the highly charged production; Marcus acts as music director. Completing the ensemble are Nicole Flannigan, Madeline Hamer, and Liz Saydah as lovely be-bopping Maenads in white; Casey Brown as a deliciously demented Dionysus; and co-director–adaptor LiBretto as our hot bad-boy hero, Odysseus. Caiti Hawkins' costumes are icing on the scantily clad cake.

During the evening, wine flows freely—the audience isn't left out, thank you very much—and the band plays on, loudly and skillfully. The staging is way smart, and the choreography is varied and loose enough to be spot-on. Though not always successful in moving forward any sort of narrative, a few of the songs stand out. A Dionysian drinking song that rallies spirits, LiBretto's simple lament to Penelope, and the rousing "Sodomy" are tops. And Marcus' driving ballad "I Am the Cyclops" is a fitting ending to a blood-pumping, full-volume, free-for-all paean to dead Greeks.

Presented by Psittacus Productions at and with the Son of Semele Ensemble, 3301 Beverly Blvd., L.A. Jan. 22—March 4. Variable schedule. www.sonofsemele.org.
 
 
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