After vacation | Your hair shines | Your eyes glitter | Everything is fine
Sun & Sea is an Lithuanian opera by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė (direction and set design), Vaiva Grainytė (libretto) and Lina Lapelytė (music).
For this piece, tons of sand have been hauled in from the shores of Jersey to a Brooklyn theater. Theatergoers stand above the stage and roam around and watch (almost voyeuristically) while a varied cast of about thirty or so relax on a beach, play games, eat lunch and disappear for the occasional dip in the water. A subset croons melodies — melodies about exhaustion from being overworked, melodies about privilege, melodies about love, melodies about complaints about untidy beachgoers, and melodies about mortality — while the theme of climate change flows like an undercurrent through the piece. Together, the evening adds up to a very unique and worthwhile theatrical experience and a wonderful, comfortable return to the New York City stage!
Sun & Sea is a perfect return to the theater after eighteen months. I didn't have to jump right back in a packed theater. I could easily move about BAM Fisher and had the option to leave at any time The full opera lasts about an hour but performs on rotation for about five hours. Theatergoers can leave after one rotation or stay for the remaining rotations. I stayed two hours. They first hour I hugged the rail and just observed, taking in all the activity on the beach below me — trying to identify the performers singing, wondering how easy it is for them to sing supine, marveling at the kids playing, and thinking how well-behaved the sole dog in the cast is. For the second hour, I stood back from the rail and allowed newcomers to get a good view of the performance as I simply listened closer to and enjoyed the music and read through the libretto in greater detail, grateful to be able to finally return to the theater once again.
Sun & Sea plays at BAM Fisher through September 26th. Ticket holders are required to show proof of vaccination and must wear a mask during the performance. After BAM, it moves on to Philadelphia. See schedule at https://sunandsea.lt/en
The libretto may be found at http://bambillss2021.tilda.ws/
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