Young company shines with bare-bones Monteverdi

Maybe just a bare stage, a handful of musical instruments and a cast of gifted and committed singers.



Because what was just as exciting as the musical values on display at Friday's opening performance was the sense of entrepreneurial energy surrounding the project.

Sets and costumes were minimal to the point of non-existence, though lighting designer Curtis Overacre worked hard to give the tiny stage some depth.

Music director Edward Hong presided over an instrumental ensemble comprising one keyboard player (the excellent and hard-working Paul Dab) and three string players.

[...] Poppea" also has enough supporting characters and subsidiary plot threads - both serious and comic - to maintain a host of buoyant performers.

With a tiny theater and only two performances, this "Poppea" came and went without enough people getting to share in its delights.