MUSIC

It was business as usual Sunday night at the Long Beach Opera’s final performance of Monteverdi’s “The Return of Ulysses.” Many in the audience had hoped for a repeat of Thursday’s surprise appearance by the man described by one audience member as “that strange, intense, little guy with the beard.” But that was no primo tenor--that was Christopher Alden, director of the Long Beach opera company that is constantly subjected to cheers and jeers for its unorthodox renderings of classic operas. It has presented Ulysses as a Vietnam War veteran and set Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” in London’s punk/high fashion scene. Alden filled in at the last minute for tenor Paul Johnson, whose throat had swelled badly in reaction to an antibiotic. “I only sang the solos,” Alden said. “I’ve never been very good at harmonizing.” Another singer performed the difficult passages from a spot in the orchestra. Reaction was mixed, and Alden himself acknowledged, “The audience was both fascinated and horrified.” His own self-evaluation: “Bad acting--with a capital B and a capital A --but bad acting is interesting.”