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This review is reprinted from the article written by Kenneth LaFave, The Arizona Republic, AZ It was chosen for reprint in Operanotes to celebrate the continued success of NY soprano, Arianna Zukerman.
Ariz. Opera's 'Cosí' a sweetheart of a production
Kenneth LaFave
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 11, 2005 12:00 AM
Cosí fan tutte's story is simple, its music
transparent and its theme heartfelt and genuine: It's "reality opera" in
a far deeper sense of "real" than any bare-facts TV show.
Mozart's 1790 opera about the maturation of romantic love requires a
no-fuss production that gets at the heart of the story, and a cast that
sings well without getting in the way of the characters. It needs
exactly what Arizona Opera has given it in the Cosí that opened
over the weekend at Orpheum Theatre.
The jury has been out on Joel Revzen's stewardship of our state's only
professional opera company since he was named artistic director (and,
later, general director) in 2003, but if the current season's earlier
offerings didn't clinch the opera-loving public's approval, this lithe,
sweet-but-never-saccharine, robustly cast and nimbly performed
production of Mozart's subtlest opera certainly should. Revzen makes his
conducting debut with the company, leading an orchestra that been
cleaned up and strengthened, especially in the strings. Director Ron
Daniels' staging pleases the eye with varied tableau and the mind with
insights into characters.
This is the
company's own production. The nearly all-white set, designed by Riccardo
Hernandez, utilizes a series of scrims that stay or go, deftly moving us
to this interior or that exterior. The costumes, by the company's
wardrobe design team, complement the restraint of the white set with
notes of elegance in the ladies' costumes, and if the guys' "Albanian"
costumes make them look a little like Shriners at a convention, so be
it.
Like almost all Arizona Opera productions, this Cosí is double
cast, so I can attest only that but Sunday's singing, at least, was at
the highest levels. Singing Fiordiligi, soprano Barbara Shirvis showed
depth in her mezzo range, clarity and agility up high, power throughout,
and the ability to make a unity of the enormous vocal span of the part.
Her aria of resistant strength, Per pieta, was a tour de force.
Mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips was a sparkling Dorabella, the sister with
less earnest outlooks on love. Each phrase conveyed the silky essence of
her role. Tenor Chad Shelton's Ferrando spun melody solidly and conveyed
the naiveté of his character. Philip Cutlip as Guglielmo negotiated the
twists and turns of both character and tune with alacrity. Steven Condy,
who sings Don Alfonso in all casts, skated some thin ice here and there,
almost plunging into a caricature of the "jovial philosopher." But only
almost, and because he didn't, the feat of staying above water was all
the more amusing.
Arianna Zukerman's Despina was the comic embodiment of the
production. Some Despinas attempt to be figures of feminine wisdom, but
Zukerman's is an out-and-out, go-get-'em hedonist with more than a touch
of the cynical, clearly happy to be a cheerleader for the innocent
sisters in their chance to taste the forbidden.
The ensemble singing in this Cosí is splendid. Revzen, conducting
from the harpsichord, commanded a sense of phrase second to none.
Arizona Opera was founded by first general director James Sullivan, had
its repertory built and its credibility established during the Glynn
Ross years, and experienced raised expectations for quality production
under David Speers. With Revzen, it seems the way is being prepared to
create an identity specific to it, a distinctive way of making opera.