FULL QUAKE (Kay Rhie) Los Angeles CA 2023 Sabrina Langlois, Thomas Segen, Tivoli Treloar
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Quake
- Composer: Rhie Kay
- Libretto: Amanda Hollander Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Freud Playhouse, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, Opera UCLA
- Recorded: June 4, 2023
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Sabrina Langlois, Thomas Segen, Tivoli Treloar, Troy Robertson, Krystal Mao, Danika Masi, Kevin Corrigan, Dominic Delzompo
- Conductor: Rakefet Hak
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director: Alison Moritz, Staci Mize
- Stage Designer: Randy Wong-Westbrooke
- Costume Designer: Yasamin Sarabipour
- Lighting Designer: Benedict Conran
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Kay Rhie
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Synopsis
SCENE I
In Café Ithaka, the chorus (Siren, Echo, Minotaur, and Gorgon) sit at the tables. They complain about how they are trapped, endlessly repeating the end of the Odyssey until Penelope and Otis (Odysseus) manage to reunite, but decide that at least now the reduced gods, songstress Athena and cafè owner Sy (Poseidon), have to serve them for a change. Since mortals can come and go at will, Athena has summoned Otis, in this lifetime a song producer and composer. She trades barbs with Sy, who serves the patrons
but is caught in a one-sided love for lawyer Penelope. Penelope has heard that Otis will be returning soon to LA and admits she cannot imagine reuniting with her ex after his abandonment. Athena boasts to Sy that to reward Otis for helping her, this time she will manage to make Otis and Penelope reunite. Otis arrives at the cafe, homesick after years away and hoping that a return to LA might bring about a reunion with Penelope.
However, Penelope does not trust Otis, who has been gone for so long while she has been fighting her neighborhood’s gentrification. She spitefully pretends not to recognize him. Athena warns Otis not to become arrogant by giving himself credit for her work and talent. The chorus members wonder if anything can really change. The world around them shakes, but they are stuck.
SCENE II
Penelope arrives at the café, still avoiding Otis. She tells Sy that she realizes time has made strangers of her and her ex-husband. A baffl ed Otis tries to sort out whether Penelope has actually forgotten him. Athena is angry about the song Otis has written for her. Sy hopes that he can thwart Athena’s plans and the Chorus realize they will remain trapped as long as Otis and Penelope do not fi nd a way to break the cycle of pain. Otis
hopes that she will eventually recognize that he is a changed man. Athena encourages him. Penelope wonders if she and Otis ever will be able to fi nd their ways back to each other. Sy, infuriated by this, erupts and it results in a burst of energy, causing a major earthquake. Otis and Penelope take shelter under a table, where wily Otis tricks Penelope into admitting that she does indeed remember him. They begin to take small steps towards reconciliation. The Chorus lament that this alone will not be enough to
free them from their entrapment.
SCENE III
The café has been cleaned up after the earthquake. The Chorus gossip about Athena’s new hit song and her skyrocketing fame. Sy congratulates Athena as she enters. She observes that humans have less and less need for gods who make constellations these days, as they prefer to manufacture their own stars. Otis arrives and Athena asks him
if he still wishes to reunite with Penelope. He admits he wants to but is not sure how to start over. When Penelope joins him, she asks if he plans to leave again now that his work is done. Otis tells her that she is his home. The two finally acknowledge that they want to be together, but also question their motives – are they really committed to each other or are they merely drawn together by fate? They choose to leave the café together, and by so doing, they release the occupants from the cursed loop.