Opera’s ‘Figaro’ treats eyes, ears

Opera Omaha launched its four-year celebration of Mozart on Friday night with a visually splendid and vocally stunning account of “The Marriage of Figaro.”

From the moment the lights dimmed at the Orpheum Theater, the audience knew that it was in for something unusual. No sooner had conductor Stephen Hargreaves launched into a brisk, effervescent version of the “Overture” when the curtain rose.

In most productions, the stage remains hidden until the end of the overture and the beginning of the first act, when Figaro and Susanna launch into their breezy duet “Cinque, dieci.” But Opera Omaha’s dramatic director Garnett Bruce couldn’t wait for the overture’s closing chords. With the enthusiasm of a kid opening a Christmas present, Bruce unveiled his stage right away and quickly paraded his entire cast in front the audience. The subtitle of this opera is “The Crazy Day,” and from the outset Bruce captured that feeling with a production that was positively brimming with comic and dramatic thrust.

And that was just the beginning. In another departure from most productions, Hargreaves led the Omaha Symphony from the fortepiano instead of a harpsichord. The result was akin to blowing dust off an antique, giving the music a sharper and more colorful edge.

Designer Constantinos Kritikos’ sets are traditional, opulent and believable. Yet even the visual side was full of delightful surprises. At the beginning of the second act, for instance, we encounter the Countess not in her bedroom but in front of a large stage curtain that is lit to look like a dark forest. The effect is to make the Countess’ heartsick aria “Porgi amor” seem all the more bittersweet.

All of that said, the best thing about Opera Omaha’s “The Marriage of Figaro” is the singing. The entire principal cast is first rate.

Maureen Francis sparkled all evening as Susanna. A wonderful lyric soprano, she sang with a plush, supple voice that was creamy in its middle range and silvery in its top. As an actress, she was utterly convincing in creating a character of deep, forgiving love.

Bass singer Jason Hardy was no less successful in the title role, singing with a voice like black velvet ––equally dark and soft. Yet his dark instrument was also remarkably flexible. For instance, the notes in his aria “Non più andrai,” Figaro’s playful first act song to Cherubino, were surprisingly light and playful.

Soprano Monica Yunus gave some of the evening’s most memorable performances as the Countess. Just in her early thirties, she’s already a rising star at the Metropolitan Opera –– another notable thing about her biography is that she’s the daughter of Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Yunus sang every note with a golden tone and unfailing sensitivity –– her “Porgi amor” was to die for.

Kelly Markgraf, as the Count, sang with a voice that was so beautiful and burnished that you almost forgot his character’s vengeful, prideful nature. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, in the trousers role of Cherubino, performed with a glistening voice. She created a sense of breathless infatuation in her wonderful aria “Non sò più cosa son.”

Other singers –– bass-baritone Kevin Short (Bartolo), soprano Shannon Brogan (Marcellina), tenor Mark Calvert (Basilio) and soprano Maria Lindsey (Barbarina) –– also gave worthy performances. The opera chorus was luminous.

The opera repeats Sunday afternoon. You should RSVP to this wedding at once.

Contact the writer:

444-1076, john.pitcher@owh.com

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