Jennifer Holloway (Dorabella), Philip Cutlip (Guglielmo), Sara Jakubiak (Fiordiligi) and Allan Clayton (Ferrando) in New York City Opera's "Cosi fan Tutte"New York--Artifice has always been fundamental to Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte,” with its disguises and schemes that prove how fickle love can be.
In New York City Opera’s latest version of the oft-produced piece, every moment is crafted. In Christopher Alden’s production, Andrew Lieberman’s set looks like a painting, movements are highly choreographed, and the puppet-masters of the plot are all but given a magic wand.
Yet at the same time, desire, rage, and regret burst through. Characters are taken seriously, intensely sung by a talented, fresh-voiced cast that affords opera fans some real discoveries--as City Opera singers should.
The production is stuffed with ideas, some better than others, and a harsh ending may irk some theatergoers (there were boos). But it was a relief, and very satisfying, to see such a smart, provocative and well-executed performance in the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College on Sunday.
All the action transpired against a projection of a park, skillfully lit by Aaron Black to bring out cinematic images. Women with parasols and men with canes clad in funereal black strolled across the stage, calling to mind Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” minus the color.
Clad in a bowler hat as Don Alfonso, Rod Gilfry was a Mephistophelean figure, waving his umbrella like a baton as he led the chorus that launches the plan for Ferrando (Allan Clayton) and Guglielmo (Philip Cutlip) to each seduce the other's girl. Alternately wounded and venomous, Gilfry used his brawny baritone to fine effect.
To carry out his plot, he passed the bowler-hat-of-power to Despina (Marie Lenormand, here appearing as the park’s bag lady), so that she would counsel Fiordiligi (Sara Jakubiak) and Dorabella (Jennifer Holloway) to stay open to amorous possibilities. Lenormand had wily charm in her role--and, of course, a great chipmunk voice when costumed as the notary.
Both sisters were given broad but discernible personalities--Fiordiligi the romantic and Dorabella the bookworm--and Alden played up their sorry states after the men left for war with writhing and giggling fits. It was exasperating to see Jakubiak have to sing “Come Scoglio” doubled over with her hair covering her face.
Yet Jakubiak overcame any staging difficulties--and her role’s demands for range, flexibility and power--with a soprano boasting the bold hue and luster of a ruby. She and Holloway blended ideally, their translucent but colorful voices and bubbling vibrato as complementary as though they were actually sisters. Holloway’s impetuous arias were also expertly sung.
Although the brothers were less defined, they had plenty of time to shine. Clayton drew and deserved massive ovations for his full, open and creamy sound and his sensitive rendition of “Un Aura Amorosa.” And Cutlip sang seductively in his duet with Holloway.
Under conductor Christian Curnyn, the orchestra was strong, with warm, robust sound and springy vitality. Curnyn kept tempos brisk and brought out the contrasts between the elegant, gentle song and the stormy outbursts that upset it. Occasionally, though, he slightly overpowered the singers, most notably in the soft, undulating trio “Soave sia il vento.”
In terms of large concepts, Alden’s choices augmented the text and music. The same couldn’t exactly be said for Alfonso in a bear costume, Guglielmo and Ferrando wearing bunny ears, or numerous flashes of skin. But all that did underline the characters’ submission to their animal instincts. Literal? Yes, but at least mildly amusing.
Those were far from the only instances in which the production drew attention to itself, despite the spare trappings. Strangely, that wasn’t a bad thing. Alden forced one to look at the opera’s uneasy sentiments about fidelity through multiple lenses, with parts that qualified as tragedy, comedy, sometimes-ugly realism and absurdism. By giving Così a twist that seemed contemporary, Alden emphasized the timeless tension that has made the work so enduringly compelling.
Ronni Reich: (973) 392-1726 or rreich@starledger.com. Twitter: RonniReich
Cosi Fan Tutte
Where: Gerald W. Lynch Theater, 899 10th Ave., New York. When: March 20, 22, 24 a 7:30 p.m. How much: $60-$185, call (212) 870-5600 or visit nycopera.com