Despite all the pressures that Welsh National Opera (WNO) is facing, their revival of The Marriage of Figaro, in the version originally prepared by Tobias Richter, is a triumph. It tells with clarity the convoluted comic story of events at the Almaviva mansion – laugh-out-loud at points – and it does justice to Mozart’s sublime music. With a fine orchestra and chorus and a set of excellent singers in the key roles, it’s a production that will travel well to those lucky cities that it will be visiting. What a pity that funding cuts mean that some cities will lose out.
The story is about the triumph of two clever servants, Figaro and Susannah, who outwit their lecherous master, Count Almaviva. It is their wedding day but they have to scheme to thwart their master’s dream of seducing Susanna before she becomes Figaro’s wife. All the action takes place at the Almaviva mansion on the wedding day. Other key characters are Rosina, the Count’s long-suffering wife, and Cherubino, a young page in the grip of the torments of adolescence. A large set of servants and hangers-on help to ensure that the “bedroom farce” drama is full of twists and turns with a glorious climax in the Count’s garden on the evening of the marriage day.
It is important for the drama that the Count is an aristocrat and that Figaro is a servant – blurring this status gap always fails. Giorgio Caoduro as Almaviva gets it just right – haughty but full of angst about how his servants see him. He is sexy enough to make the Countess’ enduring love for her rogue of a husband believable. His Countess Chen Reiss has a rich and vibrant soprano voice and navigates her shifts between misery, anger, and scheming with aplomb.
Christina Gansch as Susannah and Michael Mofidian as Figaro are every bit as convincing, as the servant couple who are always one step ahead of their master. With a lovely voice, Gansch floats Deh Vieni across the stage with real style. Mofidian is a busy schemer with fine comic and musical timing. Harriet Eyley as Cherubino shines both as the confused adolescent and the sexed-up teenager, delivering her two arias with fine attention to the subtleties of Mozart’s music. Fine cameos too from Monika Sawa as Marcelina and Wyn Pencarreg as Bartolo.
As ever, WNO’s orchestra and chorus were splendid although the extreme tempos that conductor Kerem Hassan favoured did cause some difficult moments.
The production attempts no re-working of the plot – it is set in a technicolour version of the eighteenth century and uses period costume. Two enormous panels revolve to create and change the scenes and to offer an extra doorway for entrances and exits. Revival director, Max Hoehn, has found effective ways of combining the broad comic moments with more relaxed scenes of reflection on love and betrayal. It’s a solid and telling account of the farcical events of “the day of madness” but it is Mozart’s genius that lifts this cheerful nonsense to the heights, giving the singers music of extraordinary beauty and emotional depth, even in moments of comic absurdity. Another excellent offering from WNO – let’s hope good sense prevails and the funding they deserve is found.
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte
Director: Tobias Richter (revival Max Hoehn)
Conductor: Kerem Hassan
Performers incl: Christina Gansch, Michael Mofidian, Giorgio Caoduro, Chen Reiss.
Running time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Dates: Until 6 June (various venues)
Photo credit Dafydd Owen