Metropolitan Opera- Le Nozze di Figaro

Emma Bell is one of the sexiest (vocally speaking, of course) new singers I have heard in a while. Her warm and silky tone reminds me of the ‘golden age’ singers from the 1970s and 1980s who sang for the perfection of their art form, not because they were simply pretty. (That last thought is for a discussion to be had at another time). Ms. Bell’s technical control and sustained tone color, even when singing softly, had the audience melting in their seats during ‘Porgi, Amor’ and especially ‘Dove Sono’. During the later, she literally sang half the aria at an emotionally charged pianissimo, hypnotizing the audience with her instrument. You know those moments when certain musicians seem to have control of the audience’s mind? Times when you could hear a pin drop because nobody in the audience is breathing? Performances like this make you surrender your conscious and forget about what lies outside the double doors behind you.

The rest of the cast was formidable. Danielle de Niese gave us a sprightly and chipper Susanna. Her acting kept the part alive from 8pm to midnight. Wendy White provided a comical and well-sung portrait of Marcellina. Together, they gave us fine ‘opera buffa’ that brought out the subtleties of this revolutionary work. John Relyea, Isabel Leonard, and Bo Skovhus were solid as Figaro, Cherubino, and the Count, respectively. Dan Ettinger led a very energetic orchestra and communicated well with the singers. His tempos at times bordered on too brisk to tap your foot to. Having been lucky to get student tickets, I was right behind him and could hear strange noises coming from the pit. During the overture I thought for a second there was an instrument malfunction before I realized it was his grunting.

The costumes here can be called ‘period’. The set however could have been called ‘period respectful’. What the director Jonathan Miller and set designer Peter J. Davidson have done is take old structures and age them. So instead of a bright country house we see paint coming off the walls and something resembling decomposing wood. The message revealed is actually very bold. Opera might be old compared to the exciting, action-packed thrillers being pumped out of Hollywood every month, but that doesn’t make opera any less relevant to our time. A newcomer to opera would probably be amazed by how simply humanistic and approachable most of them are. “Figaro’s” whole deal is that relationships are rarely what one anticipates or hopes for and never just black and white. Quite down to earth actually, especially for being 223 years old.