There were no nymphs and shepherds, no draped, robed gods and goddesses in the Chicago Opera Theater production of "Orfeo," which brought Brooklyn Academy of Music's cycle of the three surviving Claudio Monteverdi operas to a conclusion at the end of April.  In director Diane Paulus' conception of this Italian Renaissance work, which, for this writer, did not bring the beloved, timeless story any closer to the heart, soloists and chorus were wedding party guests in contemporary fancy dress and masks, devised by Meg Neville.  Well lubricated by champagne, they sang, danced, caroused and enacted the story of the courtship of Orfeo (Laurence Dale) and Euridice (Valerie MacCarthy), in the presence of Plutone (Andrew Funk), Proserpina (Jacqueline Wall) and the central pair, and drew them all into the action.  Orfeo was soon humping Euridice on the floor of designer Scott Pask's all-white ballroom.  The no less lusty Plutone ravished Proserpina on a dinner table.  As befits the tale of the master musician, there were lyres in the design of the wooden chairs and Orfeo's mentor, La Musica(Thea Tullman)'s golden mask was in the shape of a lyre as well.

The voices generally were not splendid, nor were some even conventionally beautiful, but the singing actors formed a cohesive ensemble under Jane Glover's baton and Paulus' guiding hand.  Few could fail to be moved as Dale, displaying an agile if baritonal tenor as Orfeo, begged the powers of Hades, "Rendetemi il mio ben" ("Return my beloved to me"), after Euridice's death.  Kathleen Flynn, a pure-voiced mezzo-soprano, as Sylvia, Euridice's confidante, who brought the news of her death, and Judd Ernster, an imposing bass, wearing a magenta punk wig, as Caronte, who refused to row Orfeo across the River Styx, boasted the most striking voices here.  The remaining principals were soprano Maia Surace as La Speranza (Hope) and tenor William Watson as Apollo.

BAM Harvey Theater
651 Fulton Street
718/636-4100
April 22-27 (closed)
Tickets $30, 55, 80