OPERA REVIEW: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
27 Apr'10

New ‘Figaro’ sparkling, beautiful

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

As anyone who has ever enjoyed either Pierre Beaumarchais’ classic comedy or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera buffa adaptation of his play can tell you, THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO is not exactly a marriage made in heaven. But a MARRIAGE OF FIGARO made by Opera Atelier can come pretty close — especially if your idea of heaven is fairly dripping with beautiful music, lavish sets and gorgeous costumes.

After milking their acclaimed 1992 production of the work for all it was worth on the world stage, artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg have decided to do it all over again. They stripped the wraps off a sparkling new production of the work Saturday at the Elgin. And in a champagne world where the vintage just opened should never make you regret the vintage just finished, this particular bottle of bubbly is just a hair’s breadth short of an utter triumph.

As they did in their 1992 production, OA is sticking with an English translation of Lorenzo Da Ponte’s libretto — one that just may be a little earthier and certainly more contemporary than one might expect from an 18th-century work. But if the whole attitude of the playing is naughtily au courant — and it certainly is — the production itself is very much of the period.

Credit for that, at least in part, can be accorded to the sumptuous, shimmering period costuming of Martha Mann and the elegant opera-within-an-opera set design of the always formidable Gerard Gauci. But it is also thanks to the beautifully baroque staging brought to life by director Pynkoski, with a rich dollop of traditionally irreverent Commedia dell’arte used once again to bring things to a boil and sweeten the pot.

Of course, Pynkoski gets a few powerful assists in spinning out Beaumarchais’ silly tale of love, lust and skullduggery amongst the Ancien Regime — not the least of which is the Tafelmusik Orchestra and Chorus, under the baton of David Fallis, brought together to put maximum charm into Mozart’s enduring score.

From a casting point of view, Pynkoski scores a coup or two as well, with baritone Phillip Addis turning in a triumph as a youthful and overly-amorous Count Almaviva. He’s paired with equally strong soprano Peggy Kriha Dye, beautifully cast as his much put-upon consort, the Countess Rosina.

Meanwhile. mezzo Wallis Giunta brings a winsome charm and a fine set of pipes to the role of Cherubino — surely opera’s most abused and amusing pants’ role — while soprano Carla Huhtanen is equal parts charm and pragmatism in the role of Susanna, lady’s maid to the Countess and putative bride in the titular marriage to the Count’s manservant.

In a lovely bit of continuity, mezzo Laura Pudwell returns to the Marcellina role she essayed back in 1992 and makes it her own, while baritones Curtis Sullivan and Vasil Garvanliev, tenor Patrick Jang and soprano Cavell Wood tackle other supporting roles with equal success.

In the end, all that’s really missing in this version of THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO is, sadly, a memorable Figaro. And although bass-baritone Olivier Laquerre gives it a game and often musical try, he ultimately proves too arch by half in the role of the conniving servant — who’s simply not smart enough to figure out he’s not as smart as he thinks he is. For those who saw OA’s 1992 edition of the work, it’s a familiar problem — indicating, if nothing else, that Pynkoski is probably so busy having fun with the other characters, he doesn’t notice that his Figaro simply isn’t firing on all cylinders.

And you know, in this production, that just might happen to you too.