Love and death had a field day at the Lobero Theatre last weekend, on a field of eloquent, Italianate musicality. Yes, it was opera time again, in the form of Pietro Mascagni’s ever-popular one-act verismo classic, Cavalleria rusticana (“rustic chivalry”). The reliably impressive Opera Santa Barbara (OSB) again reminded us of the importance of this challenging medium and the high standards of this 32-year-old cultural institution.
The company has, over its cumulative years, focused and specialized in Italian opera, but this production is actually the only work of Italian descent in the current three opera season — to be followed by Handel’s baroque opera Caesar & Cleopatra and the very American and contemporary piece Elmer Gantry.
Clearly, though, the company’s Italian trips bear markings of deep connection and assured artistic simpatico. Cultural continuity was woven into OSB multitasking head Kostis Protopapas’s planning here. Rusticana is often served up in double-play fashion with Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci — a so-called “Cav/Pac” pact. Pagliacci opened OSB’s 2024-25 season, in an inventive staging in the domain of Italian neo-realist cinema. By contrast, this rusticana — staged by director Layna Chianakas and outfitted by OSB veteran costumer Stacie Logue — drops us squarely and straightforwardly in the small Sicilian town where the Easter-timed saga of love, betrayal, revenge, and oranges is traditionally placed from the opera’s 1890 origins.