We're a little late getting this included in a newsletter. Cosi Fan Tutte opened at the Winspear Opera House on February 12th, and there are now only two performances remaining, so I hope you will hurriedly find an available seat at one of those two performances, because this production is well worth your time.
Entitled appropriately, Women are Like That, the plot sets us in Naples in the late 1700s where we encounter Don Alfonso betting his two friends, Ferrando and Guglielmo that there is no such thing as a faithful woman, and therefore neither of their fiancés could be one. In an attempt to prove his point, Don Alfonso convinces the men to pretend to be sent off to war and then to return in disguises as other men to woo the women, Fiordiligi and Dorabella. From here, comedy ensues.
When broken down bit by bit, the production could certainly get mixed reviews. While the sets and scenery make for an interesting atmosphere, playing out the scenes in different parts of a resort casino, the set pieces were clearly not built for the Winspear. This is no surprise, as the Dallas Opera often shares productions, especially with the San Francisco Opera. However, the incredibly low framing at the front of the stage makes it quite difficult to see the back sections from many of the higher seats in the Winspear, where they are fond of saying, “There is not a bad seat in the house.” Perhaps when customizing the set for the Dallas venue, someone should have considered the many viewing angles present in our beautiful new opera house. Another issue is the supertitles. The production is sung in Italian and therefore has English supertitles projected above the stage. Unfortunately, they have chosen to leave out entire phrases from the supertitles completely. I’m not one to insist on complete direct translations for the supertitles, and I certainly don’t need to see repetitious phrases repeatedly projected. However, to make the choice to have one of the characters describing things to the audience, such as when Despina talks about her taste of the hot chocolate she is supposed to be serving to the ladies, and to have the supertitle screen conspicuously blank while she tells us about it in Italian is, at the very least, quite annoying, both to those who can translate it for themselves and therefore realize their friends do not know what was said as well as for those who can’t who are just left sitting wondering what is going on.
However, the musical performances in Cosi Fan Tutte are so incredible, that even I, who have many times had a whole performance ruined for me by poor staging, could not let the set design of the poor supertitles keep me from having an absolutely incredible evening. From the moment the grand chandelier retracted into its home above the ceiling, the evening was magical. The orchestra, under the direction of Graeme Jenkins, who conducted and played the harpsichord, filled the hall with magnificent sounds. The voices of the evening have left an imprint in my imagination that has remained now for almost two weeks.
The star of Cosi Fan Tutte is almost always the chambermaid, Despina. In this production, Nuccia Focile does an amazing job of brining this character to life. We also certainly cannot forget to acknowledge the Dallas Opera debut of world-renowned bass-baritone, Sir Thomas Allen, in the role of Don Alfonso.
In short, the performances were so incredible that I wish I could make it back to experience the production a second time. If you have yet to have the pleasure, please take my advice and invest an evening in the opera.
