The finest product of the unlikely partnership between Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, The Marriage of Figaro is an essential part of the repertoire of every opera company. This new production by Louisa Muller for Opera North has many dramatic virtues and offers the audience plenty of musical treats too. Best of all are the performances of a talented cast in both the principal and supporting roles. It is an evening of fast-paced comedy and sublime music.
The story centres on the triumph of two clever servants, Figaro and Susanna, who outwit their lecherous master, Count Almaviva. It is their wedding day, but they must scheme to thwart the Count’s dream of seducing Susanna before she becomes Figaro’s wife. All the action takes place at the Almaviva mansion over the course of the day. Other key characters include Rosina, the Count’s long-suffering wife, and Cherubino, a young page in the grip of adolescent turmoil. A large cast of servants and hangers-on helps ensure that the “bedroom farce” drama is full of twists, including a quintessentially comic moment when Figaro discovers the identity of his long-lost parents. The opera culminates in a glorious scene of revelation and forgiveness in the Count’s garden on the evening of the wedding day — la folle giornata, the day of madness, as the subtitle has it.
As often happens with this work, it is the women who shine most brightly. Here, young Korean soprano Hera Hyesang Park, singing Susanna, almost steals the show. She has a warm, agile soprano voice, capable of delivering comic drama and lyrical arias with equal beauty; her Deh vieni aria was a particular highlight. Her wit and vitality light up every scene, and her relationship with the Countess is presented as strikingly modern — more personal assistant than lady’s maid. Gabriella Reyes is a very fine Countess, and her pedigree with several blue-chip American opera companies is evident. As Cherubino, Chinese mezzo-soprano Hongni Wu finds just the right balance of innocence and mischief, bringing the role vividly to life and provoking Figaro’s fury as the boy shows early signs of becoming another upper-class libertine.
James Newby is Almaviva and Liam James Karai is Figaro. Both are bass-baritones of real quality, and their confrontations over Susanna’s fate are keenly observed and well sung. Given the contemporary setting, some of the traditional master-servant dynamics are inevitably softened, but the Count’s aria of despair at his perceived loss of dignity — Hai già vinta la causa — remains powerful and effective. The playful affection between Figaro and Susanna is also genuinely touching.
Other fine performances come from Jonathan Lemalu as a cheerfully robust Bartolo, Katherine Broderick as a flirtatious Marcellina, and Charlotte Bowden as a cunning Barbarina. As ever, the Opera North Chorus is superb — the tour guide and her followers are particularly entertaining. Debutante Valentina Peleggi, an Italian conductor based in the USA, clearly relishes Mozart’s score and draws fine, responsive playing from the Opera North Orchestra.
The setting devised by director Louisa Muller and designer Madeleine Boyd places the action in a contemporary stately home whose owners have fallen on hard times and must rely on paying visitors to stay afloat. This provides ample opportunity for visual jokes. While the design looks stylish, it includes some clunky elements — notably a pair of triangular doors that require singers to stoop awkwardly to pass through. Other updates, such as the preparation of a nursery for Almaviva’s heir, never quite spark a fully convincing new vision of the story. Perhaps these are issues to be addressed in a future revival.
With very few reservations, however, this is a fresh, lively and distinctive account of a great classic. With a young and ambitious cast performing together across multiple venues — Leeds, Nottingham, Salford Quays, Newcastle and Hull — the production is likely to grow stronger with each outing. One hopes it plays to full houses across the North. Audiences will love it.
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte
Conductor: Valentina Peleggi
Director: Louisa Muller
Running time:
Acts I & II: 1 hour 36 minutes
Interval: 20 minutes
Acts III & IV: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total: approximately 3 hours 16 minutes
Language: Sung in Italian with English titles
Photo credit: Tristram Kenton