Last seen at the Met in 2020, when its run was cut short due to the pandemic, Phelim McDermott’s production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte returned to the house. Written with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte and originally conceived and staged as an opera buffa, the work – whose title translates to “That’s what all women do” – combines farcical elements (absurd disguises, a quack doctor, a fake notary, mercurial shifts in romantic feelings) with deeper psychological elements to pursue a wager to prove that all women are inherently unfaithful.
McDermott’s staging of the opera updates the action from 18th century Naples to a seaside amusement park inspired by Brooklyn’s Coney Island in the 1950s, complete with carnival rides, hot dog stands and real-life circus performers (fire-eaters, strongmen, contortionists, sword swallowers, a snake charmer with a live boa constrictor). Laura Hopkins’ playful costume designs perfectly capture the mid-century “bobbysoxer” aesthetic, along with bright colors and gaudy sideshow attire reflecting the opera’s chaotic mood.
While McDermott’s high energy concept is undeniably engaging, its visual exuberance can detract from the musical performance. Israeli-American conductor Nimrod David Pferrer managed to keep the ensemble tightly together throughout the evening, eliciting an airy and elegant reading of Mozart’s brilliant score, while Jonathan C Kelly’s fortepiano, sometimes accompanied by Kari Jane Docter’s cello, sustained the momentum during the extensive recitatives. Though the elegant music sometimes contrasted with the busy stage antics, overall the orchestral performance was rewarding.
Così focuses tightly on six principal characters. On this occasion the cast blended especially well, both vocally and dramatically. Italian soprano Federica Lombardi, as the high-minded Fiordiligi, and American mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as her more light-hearted sister, Dorabella, were the vocal linchpins of the evening. The pinnacle of Lombardi’s performance was her breathtaking rendition of “Per pietà”, the aria where (while floating in a hot air balloon suspended high above the stage) she begs Guglielmo, her absent fiancé, to forgive her if she falters a little in the face of temptation. With luscious, spinning legato and tremendous dramatic poise, she perfectly captured her character’s internal struggle. The standout moment in Hankey’s portrayal of the more drama-prone Dorabella was her delivery of the agitated aria “Smanie implacabili”, about her despair after Ferrando, her fiancé, suddenly leaves for war. With flexible, velvety tone and distinctive clarity, she leaned into the melodrama and brilliantly conveyed the young girl’s overwhelming grief. Lombardi and Hankey’s voices were an especially good fit in the trio “Soave sia il vento”, sung alongside bass-baritone Gerald Finley’s Don Alfonso.
American tenor Duke Kim, the evening's Ferrando, displayed a sweet, lyrical tone along with a sense of immense vulnerability, especially in his demanding Act 1 love song, “Un’aura amorosa”. As Guglielmo, Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky was a scene-stealing presence, pairing an Elvis Presley-like swagger with a strong and sudden shift into bitter anger when he became fully aware of Fiordiligi’s deception. The vocal peak of his performance came in his Act 2 aria, “Donne mie, la fate a tanti” where his smooth sound erupted into a fiercely charged chauvinistic litany against female infidelity.
Finley’s depiction of the manipulative Don Alfonso was understated but satisfying. Instead of playing for broad laughs, he portrayed his character as a sophisticated cynic. With his robust, resonant bass-baritone and carefully deployed technique, he provided a crucial foundation for standout numbers, most notably the serenely magical Act 1 trio. As Despina, the worldly, wisecracking motel maid who acts as Don Alfonso’s wily accomplice, Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez provided some of the evening’s biggest delights. With her rich, well-rounded soprano and superb comic timing, she was an attention grabber in her two major solos – brashly cheeky in “In uomini, in soldati”, a fast-paced critique of male fidelity, and “Una donna a quindici anni”, a playful lecture on the art of flirtation – but she was at her funniest as the fake doctor who “cures” the young men of faked arsenic poisoning in the Act 1 finale.
Although this whirlwind trip to mid-century Coney Island was at times distracting, the musical values and the singers’ vocal mastery truly came through in this performance, a reminder of the brilliance in Mozart’s magical score.
