After a three-year hiatus, the Met’s 2014 production of Le nozze di Figaro, Mozart’s divinely irreverent opera buffa, is back in the house for its fifth revival. Sir Richard Eyre’s staging moves the action to 1930s Seville, where his rotating set design, which presents Count Almaviva’s manor as a maze of interconnected rooms in a series of ornately decorated circular towers, allows the action, masterfully managed by revival stage director Jonathan Loy, to move seamlessly from one location to another. Rob Howell’s period costumes – graceful gowns and stylishly tailored suits for the upper classes, playful uniforms for the household staff – look as attractive as ever. Paule Constable’s imaginative lighting designs provide stunningly dramatic effects at key moments.
On the opening night of this run the German conductor Joana Mallwitz, making her house debut, drew a radiant, highly transparent reading from the magnificent Met orchestra, with richly textured sounds from the strings, played with graceful portamento, and polished tone from the woodwinds and brass. Together with the splendid soloists and chorus, the ensemble created a lively, totally engaging performance.
Leading the cast as Figaro, Count Almaviva’s quick-witted valet who hopes to thwart the count’s plans to seduce his fiancée, Susanna, bass-baritone Michael Sumuel displayed exquisite vocal expressiveness and control and superb comic skills. His big aria, “Non piu andrai”, in which he advises the adolescent Cherubino to give up his easy life and join the army, was notable as much for the physicality of his performance as for the quality of his singing. His seething “Aprite un po'quegli occhi”, in which he muses on the inconstancy of women, was wonderfully vigorous and theatrical. As his betrothed, the feisty Susanna, who uses all her wit and charm to fend off the Count’s advances and remain faithful to Figaro, Olga Kulchynska was alternately high-spirited, bold and hugely sincere. Her Act 3 “Sull’aria” duet with the Countess was one of the evening’s many highlights, but her bright, airy, consistently clean soprano, was most impressive in her aria “Deh vieni, non tardar’, in which she teases the hidden Figaro by pretending to sing a love song to the Count.
Federica Lombardi delivered a spectacular performance as, the anguished, frequently melancholic Countess Almaviva who, trapped in a loveless marriage, teams up with Susanna and Figaro to entrap the skirt-chasing Count. Her rendition of “Porgi, amor” – in which she entreats the spirit of Love to return her husband’s affection or, failing that, let her die – was achingly beautiful, her authoritative, beautifully colored soprano tinged with tender nostalgia as her legato phrases vividly conveyed the sadness surrounding her. As the scheming Count Almaviva, constantly thwarted in his attempts to seduce his wife’s maid, Joshua Hopkins sounded and looked appropriately elegant, his beguiling, lyric baritone was heart-rending as he pleaded for his wife’s forgiveness in “Contessa, perdono”.
With her bright, full-bodied mezzo and deft comic timing, Sun-Ly Pierce is perfectly cast, vocally and dramatically, as the mischievous adolescent Cherubino who can barely contain his desire for the Countess – or any other woman in his orbit. Her well-projected instrument with its iridescent vibrato made an especially strong impression in her charming rendition of “Voi che sapete”.
The smaller parts are exceptionally well cast. Reprising the role in which he made his 2005 Met debut, bass Maurizio Muraro was an amply voiced Dr Bartolo. He and soprano Elizabeth Bishop’s equally practiced Marcellina were particularly well paired, producing finely focused performances with superb comedic timing. Soprano Mei Gui Zhang was a charming and sweet-voiced Barbarina, and bass Paul Corona was delightful as the drunken and distraught gardener, Antonio. Tenors Brenton Ryan and Tony Stevenson brought pleasing voices and comic flair to their respective portrayals of Don Basilio and Don Curzio.
While this production downplays the more serious elements in the opera’s plot, letting the story play out mostly as a fast-paced madcap comedy, this was a totally captivating performance – dramatically consistent and tightly knit – that successfully captured the essence of Mozart’s magnificent score and the complexity of the characters.
