Gaines’ tasteless “Figaro” proves just as deadly the second time around
Some nightmares are recurring.
So one was reminded as Lyric Opera returned to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for the first time in nine years, reviving the same noisome Barbara Gaines production the company premiered in 2015.
Gaines writes in her director’s note, “I’ll stage this opera the way the music makes me feel.” From the puerile antics on display throughout her treatment of Figaro, one of Mozart’s most sublime creations must make the longtime Chicago Shakespeare director feel about eight years old. (No offense to the many thoughtful, creative eight-year-olds out there.)
In Gaines’ treatment, Mozart’s timeless characters mindlessly grope each other throughout the evening as an overall aesthetic of adolescent sexual slapstick prevails. You know you’re in trouble when you can’t get through the Overture without jiggling cleavage. While sexual politics is certainly a central theme of the opera, amplifying it exclusively and at the expense of the real human emotions Mozart portrays is lethal. It is hard to fathom how someone like Gaines, who spent decades intelligently immersed in the world of Shakespeare, could miss the mark so badly in this regard.
Susan Mickey’s appallingly chintzy costumes only add to the saccharine, superficial impression. Her color palette is that of sherbert. Susanna spends the first two acts looking like a co-ed dressed for Halloween as “Sexy Alice in Wonderland.” Count Almaviva appears like an unhappy compromise between Liberace and the Tiger King. Marcellina’s orange feather get-up looks like Big Bird, if he were repellent and had gone insane. The large ensembles look like conventioneers from Rocky Horror are heading to Easter brunch.
And there are real consequences to it all. Is there a more relatable, human character in all of opera than Countess Almaviva? She is a sympathetic, aging woman, long-suffering with a philandering husband whom she is ambivalently still trying to love. It takes effort not tofeel for her, but this is exactly what Gaines and Mickey accomplish by portraying her as a neurasthenic Real Housewife, languishing in fuchsia pajamas on a novelty-sized bed throughout Act II—incredibly, one ceases to care about her genuine emotional plight. (The ludicrous gimmicky bed notwithstanding, James Noone’s sets are one of the production’s less obtrusive aspects.)
One element from the original production that might have been easily mended was Colin Ure’s execrable English supertitles, but these remain, as vulgar as nine years ago, and amplify the revisionist kitsch on stage. How did centuries of opera-goers appreciate Figaro without an English lexicon including “sleazebag,” “idiot,” “bitch,” “slut,” and “horny”? Ure is married to former Lyric general director Anthony Freud, and the unchanged translations were an unpleasant reminder that Freud’s influence will persist for a few years while new president and CEO John Mangum gets to work undoing the damage.
The good news is that a largely strong cast makes this Figaro a pleasant evening from a purely vocal perspective, even though it is not enough to fully counteract the directorial travesties.
Three leads were making their company debuts. Slovakian Peter Kellner brought an attractive everyman quality to his portrayal of the title character, though his robust bass voice at times had a grim edge not entirely at home in Mozart. Canadian Gordon Bintner, looking particularly buffoonish throughout the night as Count Almaviva, leant his comely bass-baritone to the role, singing with a generally inviting timbre if somewhat underpowered in Act III’s “Vedrò, mentr’io sospiro.”
Strong as Kellner and Bintner were, the female leads carried the show. Soprano Federica Lombardi, also making her debut, was enormously impressive as the Countess, singing with pure, fluent tone and sustained lines. Time stood still in her supple rendition of “Porgi amor,” though the giggles she elicited were out of place and in response to the campy direction rather than the music. She received rapturous applause for the pathos she conveyed in “Dove sono.”
Ying Fang’s transparent yet flexible soprano was ideally suited to Susanna. She managed to capture her character’s complex breadth of emotions even within the production’s limitations, and gave a limpid rendition of “Deh! Vieni, non tardar” near the end of the night. She and Lombardi were an inspired pair in their duets, particularly in the letter duet.
Ryan Opera Center alum Kayleigh Decker deftly portrayed the hapless Cherubino’s breathless adolescent passions, even done up like a steampunk Robin Hood. She offered “Voi che sapete” with vulnerable, earnest expression, and her trousers acting was persuasive without being hammy.
Mezzo Sarah Mesko was making her company debut as Marcellina. Saturday her voice had a false, hollow quality, which actually helped to make her scheming character even less likeable. Brenton Ryan was a suitably gossipy Basilio, and Nicholas Newton an avidly officious Dr. Bartolo. Gemma Nha, a current Ryan member, made a sympathetic impression as Barbarina, Matt Bohler a bumbling, bibulous Antonio, and Daniel Espinal gamely dispatched his duties as Don Curzio.
The Lyric Opera Chorus sang with unified grace in their ensemble numbers, well prepared as ever by chorus director Michael Black, even if it was unclear why they had been made to look like a horde of lavender Little Bo Peeps.
Leading from the pit was German-born conductor Erina Yashima, First Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin for the last three years and another Lyric debut. Throughout the night there were a number of hairy moments when singers and orchestra came precariously apart, though Yashima always steadied the ship. The Lyric Opera Orchestra provided responsive if workmanlike support under her direction, though there is more poetry to be mined in Mozart’s orchestra than was evident opening night.
The Marriage of Figaro runs through November 30. lyricopera.org
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4 Responses to “Gaines’ tasteless “Figaro” proves just as deadly the second time around”
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Posted Nov 14, 2024 at 1:42 am by will
I felt a little better about it all; the singing was often good, the staging often successful, the costumes didn’t bother me personally, but the supertitles were so absolutely horrible, dreadful, tasteless, and nearly useless. It’s not right to look so far up, away from the actors, to see what’s there, and then to get a crude summary, no relation to what’s being said.
Act II Finale came through well, and Act IV, often pretty deadly, came off better than usual. Wish the sextet had been better, but that’s nitpicking.
Posted Nov 15, 2024 at 11:14 pm by Longtime Subscriber
I saw the rehearsal and the 11/12 performance. Costuming & sets seemed whimsical, but vocalists, I thought, were excellent, especially Ms. Lombardi.
However, the supertitles were tasteless and immediately identifiable as those of Mr. Ure. Foul language is harmful to the presentation of grand opera. Lyric officials, why not clean that up? It doesn’t work!
Posted Nov 18, 2024 at 2:43 pm by Fiona
It was the conductor who was responsible not only for those hairy moments when the singers and the orchestra seemed to come apart but also for some listless ensemble singing in Act I. However, as it often happens, the singers and the orchestra know the material well and righted the ship.
I see less problems with costumes and antics on stage: Figaro, especially, in Act I and II, is a comedy and a buffa. It would have been funny without the silly and vulgar supertitles. Those only created some irksome giggles and misplaced laughter in the audience.
Posted Dec 01, 2024 at 6:31 pm by Lyric stalwarts
The conductor never heard Mozart? Never heard this opera done well? How to explain the funereal tempi? The opera from the first downbeat was unrecognizable. Mozart needs spirit, facility, quicksilver.
And yes, the titles, awful. How to undo this damage? Lack of excitement for one of Mozart’s most engaging operas? This was a full house Saturday night crime perpetrated on Chicago and all ticket holders and donors.