Sex. Love. Jealousy. Betrayal. Conspiracy. Power. Seduction. Lies. Murder. More Sex.

All this, and more, can be seen in Claudio Monteverdi's Baroque-style opera, "L'Incoronazione di Poppea," or "The Coronation of Poppea," which takes center stage on Nov. 4 at Studio Theatre in the Creative Arts building, under the direction of SF State vocal activities coordinator, Alissa Deeter.

Poppea, the magnum opus of opera's first great composer Monteverdi, premiered in Venice in 1642, but at SF State the timeless story of greed, corruption and love is set in the 1940s movie backdrop of Hollywood.

Monteverdi's opera centers around real historical events such as the Roman emperor Nero's love for Poppea, the betrayal of empress Octavia and the philosopher Seneca's death - with human love, ambition and intrigue pitted against the fates.

With its timeless storyline of lust and ambition in high places, its vividly-drawn characters, and a musical language perfectly depicting the gamut of human emotion, the opera speaks with a relevance that the centuries have not dimmed.

"If you can imagine Monica Lewinsky getting Bill to toss out Hilary and then becoming First Lady, you'll have a rough picture of how the opera goes," said Jonathan Dauermann, a senior vocal performance major.

Dauermann plays Seneca, Nero's closest advisor, longtime friend and mentor who objects to Nero's plan to leave his wife to marry his mistress. Nero, detesting criticism, replies by having Seneca killed.

The role of Poppea will be played by Sarah Kathleen Farrell, a senior BECA major and theatre arts minor.

Though Farrell, 21, said she is finding it difficult to master the Baroque opera, she is pleased to be working with the Italian text.

"All in all, I feel very lucky to be able to immerse myself into such a difficult and beautiful work of art," she said.

The cast began working on the opera during the second week of the semester.

"We are singing it in Italian, so we were prepared for the difficulties of learning the language under such a short time constraint, said Alissa Deeter, the director of the opera.

The idea to put on Poppea came to Deeter through her experiences of attending various opera productions. The opportunity to produce it arose when the right singers auditioned for the opera at the right time.

Deeter, who is in her fifth year at SF State, wanted to expose students to Baroque opera, and this particular work is not only brilliant but thoroughly modern even though it premiered in 1642.

The role of Octavia will be played by Megan Stetson, a first semester graduate student with hopes of earning her master's degree in music in vocal performance.

Poppea is the first production Stetson has taken part in at SF State. She explained that Octavia is a complex character because her music is emotionally filled and is very beautiful and touching as she "constantly (struggles) to keep her composure while at the same time battling with her own feelings of desperation and fear."

And the title role of the fanatical and crazy Nero belongs to Joachim Luis, a senior earning his second bachelor's degree in music education at SF State.

Though Luis, 29, has been on stage many times, he said his biggest obstacle in this opera is fining the line between "How much is too much?"

"This opera has very intimate scenes, especially between Nero and Poppea, and the stagings for them could be very intense and sensual."

Luis said his parents will be in attendance, and he plans to "invite old music teachers and others, but I am seriously thinking twice about it now."

"I hope the audience is entertained by our performances (and) hopefully they'll laugh, maybe cry, and they might even cover their eyes due to the high sexual content," said Stetson.

But those not interested in sex scenes should check out the opera for its plotline, if nothing else.
"At the very least, it'd be if great audience members could come away with the knowledge that there are some wonderful things happening in the Music Department," said Dauermann.

"I've seen some great talent and musicianship in this show, and I'm sure everyone else will see it too."