by Mike Telin
“It’s David Lynch characters in a Dick Van Dyke setting doing Monty Python things,” said stage director Jonathon Field about Real Time Opera’s production of NOVA, which goes up on Thursday for three performances at Cleveland Public Theater. The production is a collaboration between Field, librettist Paul Schick and composer Lewis Nielson. “It’s raunchy, but sublime,” Field said.
The outrageous plot centers around a sales pitch for Nova, a life-sized android.
Salesman Ed tries to convince husband Al that purchasing the robot will make his life better. Nova is better at giving cocktail and dinner parties and knows how to make a great martini. She promises to be a more efficient and dependable love partner than wife Marlene. But even after a series of ten erotic escapades during a “dance” sequence based on Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils, Ed’s still not sure.