a review by Alex Brooks
The Hubbard Hall Opera has opened a new production of The Marriage of Figaro (and also Gianni Schicchi, not reviewed here), which is the most enjoyable opera production I’ve ever seen. The company has been able to recruit a dozen or so rising young opera stars from all over the country and bring them to Cambridge for a few weeks to put on these two productions. Local people put them up in their houses while they are here.
The result is a show bursting with youthful vitality that is also carried off with astonishing skill and professionalism. There are perhaps a dozen gorgeous young voices assembled here, and just about all of them have the rare combination of vocal ability and dramatic ability. The star of the show is the incredibly expressive Marielle Murphy as Susanna, the Countess’ maid who is Figaro’s fiancee and also the object of the Count’s (unwanted) amorous attention. She is ably supported with wonderful performances by Geoffrey Penar as the Count and Luke Scott as Figaro. But some of the less central parts also sparkle, most notably Blake Friedman as Don Basilio the music master, who delivers some beautiful vocal passages, and Shane Tapley as Don Curzio the lawyer. Tapley does a hilarious turn as a nervous lawyer (borrowed from Austin Pendleton’s classic performance in the movie “My Cousin Vinny”).
The Marriage of Figaro is one of the finest comic operas ever written. It is based on the second of Beaumarchais’ trilogy of plays about Figaro, with music by Mozart and a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, who collaborated with Mozart on several operas. It is the sequel to The Barber of Seville, which Hubbard Hall Opera did last year.
The plot revolves around a series of schemes and intrigues. The Count, while fiercely jealous of his countess Rosina, is also chasing her maid Susanna, and since she is about to marry Figaro, the Count engages in a (losing) battle of wits with the clever Figaro to try to win her. He tries to force Figaro to marry a woman old enough to be his mother, and then it turns out she is his mother, to the consternation of the Count and the lawyer Don Curzio.
But while the hilarious hi-jinks of the Beaumarchais play are retained, and the show is often laugh-out-loud funny, Mozart’s magnificent music manages to deepen our experience of the characters. Rosina’s pain trying to win back her wayward husband, and the genuine love between Figaro and Susanna make the opera emotionally engaging and very moving.
Remaining performances of Figaro are at 2 pm on Saturday and Sunday, August. 23 and 24. The remaining performance of Gianni Schicchi is Friday evening, August 22, at 8 pm. Details can be found at www.hubbardhall.org.