The Marriage of Figaro, a musical bliss from beginning to end

By Truman C. Wang
Sunday, August 10, 2003

The Marriage of Figaro
(Le Nozze di Figaro)

Comic Opera in four acts by
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Libretto by LORENZO DA PONTE
Sung in Italian with English titles

Randall Behr, conductor
Joshua Major, stage director

Performance of Sunday, Augustg 10, 2003
at Lobero Theatre

All photos by DAVID BAZEMORE, courtesy of Music Academy of the West

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF (Aug. 10) -- In the searing heat wave that blanketed Southern California over the weekend, opera patrons sought refuge in the Lobero Theatre -- an 80-year-old, 680-seat, Mediterranean-style theatre featuring a graceful facade of arched columns, a circular auditorium lined with classical columns, and an air-ventilation system that actually worked.

The opera was Mozart's Marriage of Figaro; the cast were made up of current and former students of the Music Academy of the West -- all highly capable young artists who, on the strength of their performances Sunday, are poised for bright futures. 

That the Music Academy's production was a resounding success owed not only to the talents and genuine enthusiasm of its young, bubbly cast, but also to the masterful stage direction by Joshua Major, as well as the historically-informed reading by conductor Randall Behr.  It was truly a labor of love all around.

(Left to Right) Melinda Blum as Barbarina, Erik Nelson Werner as Figaro, Megan Latham as Marcellina

The bucolic scenic design (sets from UC Irvine, with local contributions, and 18th-Century costumes by Malabar) serves as an ideal backdrop for the classical age of enlightenment and its underlying moral decay.  If the servants quarter in Act One looks more posh than usual, and contrasts sharply with the working class costumes of its dwellers, it makes its point of socio-economic inequalities all the more salient.

Such inequalities may be no laughing matter ordinarily.  But in the hands of Da Ponte and Mozart, they become fodder for the most human comedy ever set to music, surpassing even Beaumarchais' original.   Joshua Major's stage direction was reminiscent of Ponnelle's, by taking directorial cues from the score, while presenting an individual view of the work.  The Count is seen as a perpetual womanizer, unrepentant even while singing of contrivance (in Act Two).  Mr. Major was capably aided by lighting designer Mark Sommerfield, who used strong overhead lighting in the Countess's bedroom to show anxiety and impending trouble, and cloaked the anguished Countess in near darkness during her "Dove sono" in Act Three.

(Left to Right:) Shannon Mercer as Susanna, Justin Plank as Count, Deborah Domanski as Cherubino

The cast were, without exception, uniformly excellent.  Eschewing the traditional double-castings for Bartolo/Antonio and Basilio/Curzio, the Academy aimed to showcase as many of its prized pupils as possible.  Erik Nelson Werner sang Figaro with a rich bass-baritone voice, at once firm and lithe, that was heard to great effects in Figaro's Act Four aria "Aprite un po’ quegli occhi".  Shannon Mercer’s winning portrayal as Susanna displayed as many histrionic resources as vocal; her limpid soprano remained perfectly focused under pressure, and her bewildered look in the Act Three sextet ("Suo madre/suo padre/etc") was a gem. 

As Count Almaviva, baritone Justin Plank's singing was as imposing and aristocratic as his stature.  Soprano Susanna Phillips, singing the long-suffering Countess, overcame an initial hesitancy of pitch and delivered highly poignant accounts of "Porgi amor" and "Dove sono" (the latter reprised in gorgeous half-tone).  Her contribution in the letter duet (with a charming double-cadenza ending) was lovely beyond words. 

Mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski sang and acted the boyish role of Cherubino with joyous abandon, perfectly embodying the sexual ambiguities and love's angst of the role.  Her singing was unfailingly musical in the two newly-embellished numbers for Cherubino, "Non so piu" and "Voi che sapete".

Deborah Domanski as Cherubino

The remainders of this admirable cast were baritone Charles Temkey as a high-voiced Bartolo (therefore more comical-sounding than usual), mezzo-soprano Megan Latham's delightful Marcellina, soprano Melinda Blum's coy Barbarina, bass Steven Pence's loveable drunk Antonio, tenor Timothy Fallon's hilarious, stuttering Don Curzio, and tenor Rodell Aure Rosel's unctuous, ultra-smooth Don Basilio.

For the first time, I wished Basilio and Marcellina had gotten to sing their arias -- both were cut in this production. 

As far as text and performance practice are concerned, this "Figaro" was about as authentic-sounding as it gets:  fortepiano in the seco recitatives, abundant appoggiature and embellishments peppering nearly every number.  At times, one felt maybe all this was too much of a good thing.  The ornamented version of Cherubino's simple ditty "Voi che sapete", for instance, was decidedly not Mozart's -- either by intent or by origin -- but the work of an 18th-Century voice teacher.  On the other hand, the slow section of "Dove sono" was conspicuous for its lack of appoggiature (and more effective as a result, in my view).

Conductor Randall Behr gave a dramatically cogent reading and coaxed some ravishing wind playing from his young musicians.  (I was reminded of the contemporary reports of "Figaro" as a "concerto for wind band and singers".)  Particularly memorable was the heart-stopping sostenuto passage leading up to the discovery of Susanna in the closet, with its perfectly judged tempo di rubato and sense of hushed bewilderment.  The Music Academy chorus did a fine job of acting, and their singing was topnotch.

Susanna Phillips as the Countess

Count Almaviva, as the director would have us believe, may be a hopeless philanderer, but in the finale, as the Countess grants her forgiveness (radiantly sung by soprano Susanna Phillips) to the thrice-stunned Count, we were inclined to believe, as Mozart surely did, in the power of love and that, at long last, the comical imbroglios have come to a happy end. 

So happy, in fact, that I cannot wait to attend the Music Academy's Summer Music Festival next year.

More information on the Music Academy and its Voice Program, chaired by Marilyn Horne, may be found at www.musicacademy.org
 

Truman C. Wang is editor of Classical Voice.

[ previous | back to top ]