by Robert Leeper
The fear one has when attending a performance
of a well-loved opera is that there will be some well-intentioned, high-minded director who completely flubs his or her “reinvention.” Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s “staged-concert” version of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Thursday night at the Rose Theater was not one of
these performances. There had been a lot of buzz leading up to this Mostly Mozart production, but all
expectations were exceeded in this fresh, capricious staging of one of the iconic operas of all time.
The
relaxed nature of the performance was apparent from the very beginning as conductor
Iván Fischer—who also served as director—made an innocuous entrance and, after shushing the audience, began
without a word. The singing was excellent and the playing crisp, but what
really set this production of Figaro apart was its effortless sense of humor. Clothing and mannequins glided above the set seamlessly, occasionally dropping down to be worn or even groped, as when Cherubino sings of his love for women.
Fischer—who led the entire three-hour-plus opera from memory—conducted from a seat next to the violins. He never dominated the situation, resulting in deeply moving performances from
the performers, all of whom seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Fischer’s relaxed approach especially benefited the singers—yielding no shining star, but uniformly robust
performances. Laura
Tatulescu
made for a feisty Susanna; full of wit
and with a charming twinkle of mischief in her eye, the lively soprano was a
fine foil to the devilishly charming baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann as Figaro—young, good-looking, and with an agile voice filled with warmth.
Soprano Miah Persson was an elegant yet accessible Countess Almaviva. She particularly sparkled during the
exquisite aria "E Susanna non vien," imbuing the song with heartfelt emotion as she reflected on her marriage, and the happiness it once brought her. Baritone
Roman Trekel (Count Almaviva), was a powerful presence with his shaved head, dark suit, and commanding height. Despite not always cutting through the ensemble, he certainly looked the part
of the villain.
Probably the best-known member of the
cast, Ann Murray was an engaging Marcellina, as was Andrew Shore as Bartolo; both brought a winning
comic style that was alternately subtle and silly. Equally entertaining was Rachel Frenkel, who
threw herself into the part of Cherubino.
Throughout
the performance, no one on stage seemed to take themselves too seriously: from Fischer wearing the occasional wig, to the orchestra musicians and stagehands, also
wearing the occasional wig. (There were a lot of wigs passed
around.) The enthusiasm with which Fischer and the musicians approached Mozart's music was infectious, eliciting a series of show-stopping cheers from the audence. Glancing around at the tiered boxes of the 1,100-seat Rose Theater, you could almost imagine you were back in Vienna, the crowd shouting for encores after each aria.
A calendar of the remaining Mostly Mozart Festival shows can be found here. More pics on the photo page.