Zombies are impossible to escape these days — on television, film, video games, even reworkings of Jane Austen (“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”).
And now New York City Opera has given us a “Cosi Fan Tutte” starring the undead.
Or so it seems in Christopher Alden’s oppressive new production of Mozart’s opera, a romantic comedy on the theme suggested by the title, “That’s what all women do.” Two guys bet their girlfriends won’t cheat on them. Then, disguised, each sets out to seduce the other’s sweetheart.
A lesser composer might have made this into an operatic “I Love Lucy,” but the subtlety of the music adds layers of complexity, so the piece can be played as everything from high comedy to near-tragedy.
In the production that opened Sunday, dead-eyed young lovers lurched about a gloomy public park for almost three hours, grim and grimmer. In the finale, they collapsed onto a bench to sneer at the moral: “Happy is the man who is guided by reason.”
Reason may be hard to find in the staging, but the singers, at least, provided glimmers of light. As Despina — in this version, a homeless woman recruited to assist in the scheme — Marie Lenormand offered a tangy mezzo and a much-needed sense of fun, while Rod Gilfry’s Don Alfonso, puppet master of the plot, boasted a big baritone that dominated the stage even when he was cavorting in a bear suit.
British tenor Allan Clayton scored a triumphant company debut as one of the lovers, Ferrando, appealingly vulnerable in his often-cut second aria “Tradito, schernito.” Baritone Philip Cutlip’s Guglielmo was easier on the eye than on the ear.
In the long, rangy role of the virtuous Fiordiligi, Sara Jakubiak soared on top but lost steam on important low notes. As her sister Dorabella, mezzo Jennifer Holloway fluently rattled off recitatives, even keeping up with conductor Christian Curnyn’s breakneck tempo for her second aria, “È amore un ladroncello.”
The orchestra, which a new union contract has nearly reduced to a pickup group, sounded scrappy throughout, with thin string tone and iffy woodwind tuning. In the 600-seat Gerald W. Lynch Theater, voices and pit refused to blend.
So, dead-zone Mozart in an off-Broadway venue: That seems to sum up general manager George Steel’s vision for NYCO. Maybe it’s time for the company board to make like zombies — and look for a fresh new brain.