The occasion is the solstice holiday, marked by a boozy feast, dancing around a maypole, and in choreographer Alexander Ekman’s native Sweden, a nighttime nude swim.
For the next two weeks, the Lyric Opera’s portico lights are lit up in green. On the marquee: “Joffrey’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.”, when Joffrey was the first North American company to premiere it. Then and now, Ekman’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a massive undertaking, made even bigger and better in Joffrey’s new-ish home at the Lyric.
The Lyric is dressed up for a backyard party, with string lights — those trendy ones with the big bulbs — hung in a canopy over the auditorium’s main floor. In front of the main curtain atop a covered orchestra pit, dancer Dylan Gutierrez lays in a comically short bed for his stature. Above him, random phrases in a sarcastically elegant script are projected on the main curtain; nature sounds are all around .
As the curtain rises, Gutierrez and Jaiani join a party in progress, with nearly 50 dancers on their knees, whipping and thrashing a stage full of hay. Behind them, a string quartet, pianist and percussionist play composer Mikael Karlsson’s incredible score. Above them, where supertitles ordinarily appear at the opera, a clock indicates the date and time: Friday, June 21, 8:30 a.m. A blazing sun constructed from an orb of stage lights gives further context clues about when and where we are.
Jeraldine Mendoza, José Pablo Castro Cuevas and the Joffrey Ballet ensemble in “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Lyric Opera House.
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