Opera

By EMILY MITCHELL

What U.S. cultural magnet is located in Cooperstown, N.Y.? Easy: GLIMMERGLASS OPERA. Well, yes, the Baseball Hall of Fame is there too, but in contrast to the Hall of Fame, Glimmerglass's hits (and its basses) are onstage. Set along the sylvan shore of Otsego Lake, the festival is noted for its ambitious repertory and stable of budding American singers. This summer's season features a Jonathan Miller production of Beethoven's Fidelio, in which Miller does not change the 18th century prison locale to one of those voguish operatic places he calls "nowhere and nowhen," but instead treats the work with standard, even standoffish respect. The surprise is Il Re Pastore, an 18th century trifle about a shepherd king who is prepared to give up the throne for his sweetheart. Director Mark Lamos uses a scene-shifting crew of children in T shirts and sneakers, who playfully push four large letters together, forming AMOR. Later, two more letters appear to create the enigmatic TRAZOM. For the happy finale, the letters are reversed. The composer, who often used the backward spelling in correspondence, would have enjoyed the joke. E.M.