What Can I Say About Figaro?

           Reviewing your favorite opera is no easy task. A part of me just wants to rave about how much I love Le Nozze di Figaro, but with this particular production, a lot of unique, creative choices were made to entertain today's audience. Being critical about something you deeply care about is nearly impossible—but I’ll try! So in a word, how can I describe this production? Modern, modern, modern!

            Mozart was pretty far ahead of his time when he created this opera. It addresses the class-system, ridicules nobility, and introduces early feminist ideas, all while wrapped in a gorgeously written, 18^th century package. The creative team didn’t have to do anything crazy with this production to make this opera beautiful—the composer accomplished that over 300 years ago—but they went crazy anyway!

            Usually, it’s the job of the Director (Richard Eyre) and the Set/Costume designer (Rob Howell) to pick up where the composer left off in terms of period and style. Since the opera is set during the Enlightenment in Spain, one could expect the curtain to rise on a brightly-colored set with elegantly dressed performers—pomp, frills, and puffy-sleeves galore. However, none of this is what you get. The curtain doesn’t even rise. Upon entering that enormous auditorium, the audience is greeted by a darkly lit, relatively bare castle that takes up about the whole stage. We don’t have to wait very long to actually see the performers. The action begins with the Overture, and the set starts to rotate like a life-size dollhouse. This way, we are given a glimpse of what the main players of the story are doing on this particular morning. The Countess slept in late, the Count was clearly up all night, Figaro is attempting to record measurements (with his feet?) and Susanna is bubbling with glee among the other servant girls while they try on her wedding veil. The rotating castle allowed for very fluid movement from scene to scene, and was a unique addition to this production. Even more surprising than the set was Mr. Howell’s costume designs. They don’t seem to come very far from 2014. We first see Almaviva in a plain, maroon satin robe, and his wife is in a floor-length matching dress, which wouldn’t be too out of place today. Figaro’s vest outfit (and tuxedo later on in the act) can probably also be found on some occupants of the Orchestra seats on opening night. Susanna, probably the most surprising of all, is in a standard 1930’s-esque maid costume, as opposed to the lavish, frilly dresses her actress usually dons in other productions. Modern definitely seems to be the theme here.

            In keeping with this modern direction, Mr. Eyre seemed to bring the character development a bit closer to the current century, too. Every single character had 3 dimensions, and at least one side that you could really relate to (well, except maybe Dr. Bartolo, but you can’t really help that) Even the members of the ensemble each had little unique things to do here and there, like awkwardly giving Susanna her flowers and generally interrupting the normal flow. It made them seem more like a bunch of humans rather than a static mass of singers that decorate the stage. Out of all the characters, the standouts for me were Susanna and Cherubino. Susanna had a more sassy, more flirty, even more promiscuous side to her character that isn’t usually brought out as much. She took advantage of her power over the men in this story rather than playing the helpless victim. Cherubino went from well-loved character to full out scene-stealer in this production. He remained the growing girl-crazy adolescent, but he also had a genuinely sympathetic side to him that other players sometimes miss. When he embraced Susanna one last time after Non Più Andrai, it didn't seem like he was trying to do anything silly, that he was whole-heartedly going to miss her when he left. I felt it.

            Vocally, a dress rehearsal is pretty difficult to judge. It’s hard to gauge how much the singers were holding back when they performed that day. I had listened to recordings of some of these singers prior to their performance, and a lot of the ornamentations and other fun little additions that I had heard on the internet just weren't present in their live performance—most of the arias were sung straight. Then again, back in high school, when I was working on a musical that was just days away from opening, I certainly didn’t sing out all of my best notes at a dress rehearsal. Of course, those practices weren’t in front of a nearly full audience at a world famous opera house, but still, a rehearsal is a rehearsal, right? Either way, most of the arias had all of the passion and emotion you’d expect, although a few of them (including my personal favorite, Deh Vieni, Non Tardar) were definitely sped up a bit. I guess for company Musical Director James Levine, modernity meant increased speed. (I’m skipping entirely over how beautiful the voices were—I could go on forever about that, and I’d rather leave that part up to you and your ears)

            If you open up your Met Opera 2014-15 season book, you’ll find Le Nozze di Figaro right under “New Productions.” New, indeed! The creative team managed to add many contemporary twists to a truly timeless classic. This may not be my favorite production of this opera out of all of the different versions I’ve seen, but it was simply breathtaking to get to hear some of my favorite music ever being made in the very same room I was sitting in. Bravissimi!