The Count, Susanna and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro - Photo: Robert Workman
Reviewed by James
Karas
**** (out of five)
Figaro has moved his
marriage to Susanna to the 1960s.
The Glyndebourne
Festival has revived its 2012 production of Michael Grandage’s staging of The
Marriage of Figaro set in the hip decade of hot skirts, marijuana, long
hair and other long forgotten habits and fashions.
Grandage’s production
has some delightful aspects, some great theatrical touches but his conception
is not without its problems. Life in a castle in Seville a couple of hundred
years or so ago poses some challenges when trying to marry it to the 21st
century. I will have more to say about that in a minute but first let’s talk
about the singing and acting.
For several good reasons, top honours for performance go to soprano Laura Tatulescu as Susanna. She sang with verve, joy, beauty and energy. She acted the same way and gave a Susanna that is a delight to watch and listen to. She can be quite physical in her falls and tossing of her legs in the air and is a woman who can stand on her own two feet in any century.
Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka was an outstanding Figaro, tall with a resonant voice he made a comic and enjoyable partner for Susanna and an adversary for Count Almaviva.
Soprano Amanda
Majeski made a majestic and gorgeous Countess. The singer gets two wonderful
chances to display her vocal splendour and the heart-rending condition of a
woman spurned by an unfaithful husband. Majeski’s “Dove sono” and “Porgi amor”
are feasts for the ears and the eyes as the beautiful soprano pours out her
distraught emotions in lustrous tones.
The juicy role of
Cherubino is handled by Lydia Teuscher. The Count calls this hormonally
hyperactive teenager a “horny bastard” and that’s putting it mildly. This
mop-haired boy (and Teuscher does a good imitation of a boy) has hormones that
are so hot you can practically see the steam coning out. His arias are fine expressions
of his sexual excitement and Teuscher delivers all well. The role is usually
given to a mezzo soprano but Teuscher makes you forget that fact.
Amanda Majeski as The Countess. Photo: Michael Workman
Partially because of
Grandage’s conception for the production, there is a problem with the rendition
of the role of Count Almaviva. This Almaviva is a superficial dandy with long
hair who smokes pot. If you imagine the Count as being imperious and commanding
(like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau doing it, say), you will not find him in this
production. Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins acts the part as directed and
sings it in a like manner. He sounds like a shallow, fun loving creature which
is quite incongruous with the character that he is playing or, perhaps more
accurately, the character we know from Mozart’s opera.
During the overture,
a convertible sports car arrives and the Count and Countess alight. They are
returning from their honeymoon. (They could have been out shopping but I prefer
my view). A gardener places a flower pot under a window and we know that it
will come in handy a bit later.
Susanna and Figaro
roll happily on the floor in the opening scene and when she ends up on top of
him she feels something hard and jumps up. It’s only the measuring tape in
Figaro’s pocket. These are some of the fine touches that Grandage adds to the
production that help define and humanize the characters and entertain the
audience.
The set by Designer
Christopher Oram seems to be intended to make no impression at all. Are we in a
rich castle, a modern house or what? Did I detect Middle Eastern décor?
Jeremy Rhorer
conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra and gave us crisp and delicious
Mozartian music.
Not all the issues of
the change in era were resolved satisfactorily but that barely affected this thoroughly
enjoyable production.
____
The Marriage of Figaro by W. A. Mozart opened on June 8 and will be
performed on various dates until August 2, 2013 at the Glyndebourne Festival,
East Sussex, England. www.glyndebourne.com
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