OPERA ATELIER'S THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO


Photo by Bruce Zinger / Artists Phillip Addis and Peggy Kriha Dye

Co-Artistic Directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeanette Lajeunesse Zingg will doubtless garner their usual heaps of accolades with the upcoming The Marriage of Figaro. In case you've been in a coma for the last twenty years, Opera Atelier has been wowing international audiences with their technical accuracy and creative excellence in music, choreography, sets and designs of the 17th and 18th centuries' operas. This Mozart production pulls out all the stops with set design by Gerard Gauci, Martha Mann's costume design (above) and David Tallis returning with the Tafelmusik Orchestra.

I'm thrilled to see Carla Huhtanen again, a soprano with good comedic sense; joining her are baritone Olivier Laquerre in the lead male role, baritone Phillip Addis, soprano Peggy Kriha Dye, mezzo Wallis Giunta, and soprano Laura Pudwell. This commedia dell'arte was originally based on a text by Beaumarchais, just as Romeo and Juliet's story was not Shakespeare's brainchild, nor was Doctor Faustus Christopher Marlowe's. But this production would make Mozart giggle with glee, if my biographical memory serves me right. He would have felt that only such a sumptuous and loving presentation would be decorum enough for his baby. This naughty romp is somehow made more respectable by its period placement. It's the kind of tale I'd love to see made into a music video and then critiqued by Video on Trial by Trevor Boris and Debra diGiovanni. ...... K, on second thought maybe not.

Wise people will look into $30-$150 tickets either via Ticketmaster 872 5555, the Elgin Theatre Box Office or via http://www.operaatelier.com/. Performances are Surtitled, and are at 7:30pm on April 24, 27, 28, 30 and May 1, and at 3pm on April 25.

Comments

Gillian said…
We're thrilled to find another Carla Huhtanen fan online. You have a great blog - keep it up!
25 April 2010 at 20:26
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