Opera and me

The highlight of my weekend was enjoying Le nozze di Figaro at the Virginia Opera with amazing companies (NQ, JA, GG, Phetsomai). Despite the bad time at work on Saturday and a long shitty date that night, I managed to wake my *ss up and rendezvous to see Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, a sequel to Il barbiere di Siviglia, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. It was good to see a full theatre for the first time, on a Sunday afternoon performance. Before the lights went down, there was a caption announcing that Joshua Winograde, the actor for Figaro had laryngitis; therefore, a guest artist will be performing tonight. I couldn’t help overhearing a few angry disappointing murmurs behind me. I don’t blame them. They paid good money to see Josh-ooh-aah, not some understudy for the main role in the play. NQ was disappointed with the understudy’s performance. It was hard for me to evaluate because I had no prior experience with operas to compare. I thought the understudy had a good baritonal voice for the role.

The four acts plot of the overture entails:

Servants Figaro and Susanna are preparing to wed, but their philandering employer, Count Almaviva, wants Susanna for himself. In the meantime, the pageboy Cherubino is courting the Count's wife while the Countess's former governess, Marcellina, is wooing Figaro, and all are secretly scheming to win their heart's desire. In the end, Figaro gets his bride, but Mozart leaves us to ponder whether love conquers all.

After the wedding, all find themselves on the palace grounds, where a comic series of mistaken identity results in the Count's humiliation and then forgiveness by the Countess. Susanna forgives Figaro for his suspicion, and Figaro forgives Susanna, and everybody lives happily ever after, yadda yadda yadda. The End.

What interests me though, is the reference and political satire of the aria…the mockery of the upper class. How naïve of Count Almaviva! He falls for every trick his servants throw at him. And when he takes things in his own hands, he fails miserably.

Anyhow, Le nozze di Figaro was a lovely comic opera. The orchestra and the singers were in synch. Even though I was on the second row from the back of the theater, seat 31 in row UU, approximately 100 yards from the stage, I thought the performers were decent looking. The outfits were dazzling. It was the best libretto I’ve seen thus far, haha. So, well done Virginia Opera. It’s great for those who love high art opera, to see one of Mozart’s greatest establishments. I would not recommend this libretto for those who has not been introduced to operas. It is a four hours long overture of Italian singing. Beautiful, but not for the faint of heart, haha. You might fall asleep and worse, breathe while sleeping because there's always an old gray haired lady next to you giving you evil looks and tell you to keep your breathing down.