by Mike Telin
A mainstay of the opera repertoire, The Marriage of Figaro is the first of Mozart’s collaborations with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The plot is filled with mistaken identity, surprise paternity, and intrigue, as the servants Figaro and Susanna triumph in marriage while comically thwarting the attempts of the philandering Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna.
On Thursday, March 24 at 7:30 pm at Gamble Auditorium, Baldwin Wallace Opera Theater will launch Mozart’s comic opera in a production directed by Scott Skiba, with Dean Buck conducting the BW Orchestra. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Performances run through Sunday, March 27. Tickets are available online. The performances will also be live streamed.
Based on a Pierre Beaumarchais play, Figaro is a social commentary about the lower versus the upper class — servants outsmarting the aristocracy. And it is the combination of comedy and great music that makes the opera a masterpiece. “I think it’s one of the greatest pieces in all of theater, whether it’s opera or musicals,” Scott Skiba said during a recent telephone conversation. “The Beaumarchais plays are brilliant and the Mozart/DaPonte collaboration is equally brilliant.” [Read more…]