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Marriage of Figaro Seattle Opera - review
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Marriage of Figaro - Seattle Opera
by Heather Lanier
"The audience laughed out loud many, many times. The choreography was funny and charming."
The Marriage of Figaro is based on Beaumarchais’s 1784 play La Folle Journee ou le Marriage de Figaro, a sequel to Le Barbier de Seville (The Barber of Seville), familiar to opera audiences through Rossini’s great opera. In Le Barbier, Count Almaviva, with help from Figaro, wooed and won the lovely Rosine away from her crusty old ward and would-be husband, Dr. Bartholo.
In The Marriage of Figaro, set in Count Almaviva’s castle in Seville in the late 18th century, Beaumarchais continued the story. The count has married Rosine, but their marriage has gone sour because of his philandering. Figaro has quit barbering and is now the Count’s major-domo. He is engaged to Suzanne, who is Countess Rosine’s maid—and the Count’s intended conquest. Old Bartholo is back to seek revenge on Figaro for taking Rosine away from him, with the help of the slimy music master, Don Bazile. Adding to the fun are an amorous teenager, a scheming old maid, a drunken gardener, and a silly young girl. Much happens on a single “folle journee” – a crazy day.
I truly enjoyed Friday’s performance. The story is hilarious, the music is gorgeous and the production was solidly entertaining. The choreography included a lot of physical comedy, and the performers were wonderfully physically expressive.
The part of Susanna was played by Cuban-American soprano Elizabeth Caballero, who is making her company debut with these performances. She was marvelous! Her appearances this season have included the Mozart roles of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro in Miami and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in Nashville. At New York City Opera, Caballero has performed Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Musetta in Puccini’s Bohème, and Donna Elvira—a performance that won her a Richard Gold Debut Artist Award. She made her Carnegie Hall debut as Lisa in Bellini’s Sonnambula with Opera Orchestra of New York, and her international debut as Magda in Puccini’s Rondine at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, Italy. She has a very rich and beautiful voice, she is quite lovely, and her acting was superb. She and Nicolas Cavallier, who played Figaro, had a lot of stage chemistry and were funny and convincing. She was a joy to watch and listen to-- I was captivated by her.
Caballero connected strongly with the rest of the characters as well, especially the very funny and handsome Danish baritone Johannes Mannov, who played the Count Almaviva in his company debut. I love baritones, and his voice has fabulous depth and clarity. He also has a strong physical presence and expressiveness. Mannov began his career at Staatstheater Kassel in Germany. He has since performed in opera houses throughout Europe and in Australia, Israel, New Zealand, United States, South America, and Turkey. He was recently seen as the Forester in Janácek’s Cunning Little Vixen at Israeli Opera. His appearances at Royal Danish Opera include Figaro in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Jaroslav Prus in Janácek’s Makropulos Affair, and the title role of Britten’s Billy Budd. At Berlin Staatsoper, he has sung Pluto in Telemann’s Orpheus, Cyrus in Keiser’s Croesus, and Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Other appearances for Mannov include Papageno in Mozart’s Zauberflöte at Athens Megaron, San Diego, and Santiago, Chile; Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro at Cincinnati; Ned Keene in Britten’s Peter Grimes at Théâtre de la Monnaie and in Hamburg; and Billy Budd at Tel Aviv.
Sarah Castle as Cherubino was wonderfully charming and very fun. My escort felt that Ted Schmitz (also making his company debut with these performances and formerly a Seattle Opera Young Artist) as Don Basilio/Don Curzio stole the show, and I truly did like the sardonic humor he brought to the production.
The audience laughed out loud many, many times. The choreography was funny and charming. Kudos to Wade Madsen, who has worked as a choreographer, dancer and teacher in Seattle for nearly 30 years. This show was so well communicated that we were entranced by this group of extremely talented performers.
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