San Diego Opera (SDO) closed its 2007 season on a well-sung high note with a production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular “The Marriage of Figaro,” which opened at the Civic Theatre Saturday, May 5. With immense sets by Zach Brown, and stalwart Edoardo Mueller and San Diego Symphony in the pit, the production continues through May 16.
The main attraction to the seasoned operagoer is the impeccably sung Susanna of Canadian-Armenian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, who seems just as fresh and lively in Act IV as she did in Act I.
Susanna is chambermaid to the forlorn Countess Almaviva. This role is sung by American soprano Pamela Armstrong, who makes her SDO debut with a fast vibrato, excellent tone color and control, acting acumen and a glorious top, displayed in the opera’s two demanding arias, “Porgi Amor” and “Dove Sono.” The two women enjoy a confidential relationship that is more than master/servant, especially when they conspire to exact revenge on the adulterous Count, who intends to take Susanna’s virginity on her wedding night. Thus he would exercise le droit de seigneur, a medieval custom that allowed the lord of the manor to do just that (remember the film “Braveheart”?).
Also making impressive company debuts are American bass-baritone Richard Bernstein as Susanna’s mostly clueless fiancé, Figaro; vocally and dramatically attractive Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien as the lecherous Count, resplendent in Zach Brown’s costumes and Steven W. Bryant’s wigs; and New Zealand mezzo-soprano Sarah Castle, vocally solid and possessed of the appropriate combination of gaucheness and swagger in the trouser role of Cherubino, a lad who is aroused by anyone female, including the Countess, Susanna, Marcellina (Delores Ziegler) and the gardener’s silly daughter, Barbarina (Priya Palekar).
Others in the large company, effectively staged by Linda Brovsky, are Kevin Langan as the wily Bartolo, onetime lover of Marcellina; Martin Zysset as the officious Don Basilio; Joseph Hu as the judge, Don Curzio; and Scott Sikon as the drunken gardener, Antonio. Tiffany Carmel and Michelle Kei Ishuu are Peasant Girls. The ever-mellifluous SDO chorus is directed by Timothy Todd Simmons.
The opera unfolds in four glorious, fun-filled acts, rife with familiar arias and marvelously structured ensembles. And as one woman remarked on the street afterward, “Nobody dies.”
For those who love murder and mayhem, there’s plenty of that next season, which includes Richard Wagner’s “Tannhauser,” Gaetano Donizetti’s “Mary Queen of Scotts” featuring the return of Angela Gilbert; Pietro Mascagni’s “Cavalleria rusticana” paired with Ruggerio Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci”; and the return of Georges Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers.”
“The Marriage of Figaro” continues at 8 p.m. Friday, May 11; 2 p.m. Sunday, May 13; and 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 16 at the Civic Theatre, 202 C St.
For tickets and information, visit www.sdopera.com or call (619) 533-7000. Season tickets are on sale now for the 2008 season.
