One of the longest-lasting and best-loved operas in the canon, with performances a constant since 1786, "The Marriage of Figaro" opened the Opera Theatre of St. Louis season last night at the Loretto-Hilton Center with a dazzling production. It will be repeated eight times through June 26.
It's a slightly unusual "Figaro" in its political and social point of view. OTSL Artistic Director James Robinson, also the stage director for the opera, works with a metaphor of social and political upheaval from the crack in the floor and the walls in the opening moments (oil leaking through the crack might have been a little too obvious) to some similar antics with a tree near the end which got a little confusing until second thoughts clarified things a little. In addition, conductor Timothy Long had to drop out at the last minute. OTSL Music Director Stephen Lord took over with only a single rehearsal and did his usual splendid work. An advantage of an often-performed opera like "Figaro" is that Lord has conducted it before, and worked with Long in an earlier production.
The vocal work and much of the acting was outstanding, led by Maria Kanyova as Susanna, an outstanding comic actor in the early going, working on top of 12 mattresses in a scene reminiscent of "Once Upon a Mattress," and later displaying glorious vocal depth in several arias. Christopher Feigum was a delight as Figaro, a nice reunion with Kanyova after they both sparkled in "Ghosts of Versailles" last year, with he as a different Figaro and she as Marie Antoinette.
Edward Parks was very strong as Count Almaviva, paired very well with Amanda Majeski as Rosina, his countess. Jamie Van Eyck excelled as the feisty, flirty Cherubino, and there was good, broad comedy from Bradley Smoak, as Susanna's uncle, the gardener; Jamie Barton as the housekeeper, Matthew DiBattista as the music master and John Matthew Myers as the lawyer, his character and actions unchanged in more than two centuries.
The story? Well, a lot of he-ing and she-ing, misplaced trust and honest lust, men and women meddling in the undergarments of the opposite sex and many other things that both preceded and followed the prose of Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, who wrote the original play; Lorenzo da Ponte, who wrote the libretto; and Andrew Porter, who did the translation.
Bruno Schwengl designed the simple, but certainly adequate set, and the period costumes. Sean Curran's choreography drew on some familiar square-dance formations, and it was charming to see stars and do-si-do-ing, among other moves. "The Marriage of Figaro," first of a new OTSL cycle which will bring all seven of the collaborations between Mozart and de Ponte, was outstanding in every respect. The 2010 opera season is off to a fine start.
The Marriage of Figaro, an Opera Theatre of St. Louis production at the Loretto-Hilton Center, continuing May 26, 28, June 3, 12, 16 (matinee), 20, 23 and 26 (matinee)
–Joe