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by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,

directed by Guillaume Bernardi

Canadian Opera Company, Four Seasons Centre, Toronto

October 2-November 2, 2007

The current COC production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro is a success both musically and dramatically.  Under the insightful direction of Guillaume Bernardi, this is a comic opera that is actually laugh-out-loud funny without sacrificing the moments of reflection give the work its depth.  Figaro may be one of the world’s most popular operas, but Bernardi’s approach repeatedly makes it seem fresh and new.

For those who don’t know the story, Figaro (Robert Gleadow) valet to Count Almaviva (Russell Braun) plans to marry Susanna (Ying Huang through Oct. 18, then Isabel Bayrakdarian), maid to the Countess (Jessica Muirhead).  All would be well if the philandering Count did not plan to seduce Susanna and if Marcellina (Megan Latham) did not seek to marry Figaro herself.  Add to this a male page Cherubino (Sandra Piques Eddy), a role always played by a woman, who loves the Countess and a cascade of delightful confusion ensues.  At the same time Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte satirize the ill effects of unbridled male power in the realms of both desire and class.  Too often Figaro’s machinations to outwit the Count outweigh the Countess’s scheme to win back her husband’s affection.  Here Bernardi keeps the two sides of the plot in perfect balance.  What is rare in opera productions Bernardi also gives us sense that all the diverse characters are members of a single community and have a long past history together. 

It helps, of course, that all of the cast are fine actors as well as singers.  It’s true that Figaro should ideally have a more resonant and stable voice than the young but gifted Gleadow has at present, but he is absolutely at home on stage and a fine comic.  Huang has bright soprano and makes a pert Susanna.  Braun tends to dominate the action not just because of his strong baritone but because his Count is more than a simple tyrant or buffoon.  He shows us a man who learns through experience that the world no longer runs the way he thinks it does.  Muirhead’s lovely, silky voice brings out all the pain and melancholy in the Countess making us wonder all the more how any sane man could stray from her.  Eddy is made for the role of Cherubino and splendidly captures the character’s mischievousness and boyish ardour.

Morris Ertman’s sets, last seen in 1993, look like design sketches in pencil on cardboard blown up to life size.  The whimsical effect would work much better if they were not so wobbly.  Ann Curtis transfers the action from the 18th century to the Edwardian period which allows her a gorgeous palette of beiges and pastels.  British conductor Julia Jones favours rapid tempi and a light touch that makes the COC Orchestra sound almost like a period instrument ensemble.  The use of fortepiano instead harpsichord continuo is a pleasure in itself.  All in all this Figaro gets the COC’s new season off to a buoyant start.       

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2007-10-03.

Photo: Donato DiStefano, Ying Huang, Russell Braun, Jessica Muirhead, Megan Latham and Robert Gleadow. ©Michael Cooper.