If your mind wanders at the mention of opera, Baroque composers, or reading subtitles, perhaps something as universally frustrating as love can hold your attention. Incorporating all of the above, and more, the Sacramento Opera will bring Handel’s “Orlando” to the Community Center Theater for two performances this month.

“Even if it’s your first opera, you’ll get it,” countertenor Randall Scotting said. Scotting will be playing the title role, Orlando.

“‘Orlando’ is great for people who don’t know Baroque opera,” he said, “It’s not too hard for the audience to come along with the story.”

The opera follows the roller coaster ride of emotions experienced by the battle-worn soldier, Orlando. Though victorious through the Crusades, Scotting said Orlando finds himself inexperienced when it comes to love.

“This idea of love is too much for him to handle, and (it) drives him insane,” he said.

Provoking this insanity is the manipulating seductress Angelica, played by soprano Céline Ricci.

“Orlando is crazy about her,” Ricci said. In the story, however, Angelica falls in love with someone else.

In case a love triangle isn’t delightfully confusing enough already, a fourth lover is thrown into the mix by way of the obsessive shepherdess Dorinda, played by soprano Antoni Mendezona.

“In the end, she accepts her fate that she isn’t loved back,” Antoni Mendezona said of Dorinda.

According to Mendezona, the opera has many magical elements to it, but remains accessible to the audience because the feelings the characters experience are so universally real.

“It’s very real for me amidst the magic,” Mendezona said.

Introducing this magic to the stage is the sorcerer Zoroastro, played by bass-baritone Dean Elzinga. Mostly concerned with protecting Orlando, Zoroastro acts as a kind of guardian angel/magician hybrid.

“I protect people from the worst consequences of their actions,” Elzinga said.

While wrapping his mind around Zoroastro’s role and “Orlando” as an opera, Elzinga admitted that there’s a lot to play with in this piece.

“The more you dig into it, the more mythical, psychological depth there is to it,” he said.

To illustrate this depth, Scotting recalled a scene where Orlando is driven into the deepest parts of hell because of his confusion with love. Orlando feels spurned by love because of the flirty Angelica’s halfhearted seduction.

Ricci confessed that she enjoyed playing such a manipulative character and described Angelica as being “lost in her own games.” She said that even though Angelica displays a very superficial side, there is depth to her character that is revealed throughout the opera.

“It’s a magical opera,” Ricci said, “It reveals that if people want to change, they can.”

Performances will be held on Friday, November 19, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 21, at 2 p.m. Ticket information can be found here.

Photo two: Randall Scotting (Orlando)

Photo three: Céline Ricci (Angelica)

Photo four: Antoni Mendezona (Dorinda)

Photo five: Dean Elzinga (Zoroastro)

Photo six: Diana Tash (Medoro)  

All photos courtesy of Rod Gideons, Sacramento Opera Company