Fans of the opera filled the sold-out seats of the Sacramento Community Theater to watch the Sacramento Opera’s premier of “Orlando” Friday night. Written in 1719 by George Frideric Handel, “Orlando” is a story about love, madness and magic that featured a talented cast with fantastic orchestral accompaniment.

“The closest I’ve come to an opera is watching something on public television,” said local resident Meredith Shipham before the show. “I’ve always thought their voices were beautiful, but I was lost on the stories.”

“Orlando” follows the tale of a knight named Orlando (Randall Scotting) who is madly in love with Angelica (Céline Ricci), the queen of Cathay. Angelica, however, has fallen in love with Prince Medoro (Diana Tash), who, meanwhile, has fallen out of love with Dorinda (Antoni Mendezona), a shepherdess. This befuddled love triangle was predicted by the magician Zoroastro (Dean Elzinga), who watches over the characters and protects them from Orlando’s plummet into insanity.

The audience watched these characters struggle with the side effects of love and hate, relating to dialogue and emotions written by Handel almost three hundred years ago. 

“It’s quite extraordinary how much you can say in one sentence in an opera,” Davis resident John Oliver said during the intermission. “The songs have a way of being haunting and beautiful at the same time.”

Sung in Italian with English translations projected on a screen above the stage, the story was easy to follow along. The performers were animated and passionate, and they wowed the audience with powerful voices. Minimal set design kept the focus on the performance while the lighting effects added to the illusion of being in a forest, a cave or even in the fiery pit of hell.

“I thought it was incredible,” Shipham said after the show. “I really loved when they all sang together — they were all very talented.”

“Orlando” finished its run over the weekend. The Sacramento Opera’s next production will be Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” which premieres in February of 2011.