The Marriage of Figaro – Paris Opera, 2006 (Part 2: Eyeglasses and Wine Glasses)

Marthaler and Maestro Sylvain Camberling decided that a harpsichord or fortepiano wouldn’t seem quite right in this setting. So they brought in a performance artist as a “Recitativist.” He’s on stage and participates in the drama—accompanying the recitatives on an electronic keyboard and a batch of odd instruments, including a melodeon, a glass harmonica (pictured), and a pair of beer bottles.  This guy interacts with the other folks on stage, at one point providing the Countess with a couple of shots of whiskey.  

I like the theory of having the accompanist participate in the drama (see the M22 Cosi fan tutte), but this realization just seems silly. I’d rather they’d stuck to harpsichord.

A surprising number of characters in this production wear glasses. Cherubino, Bartolo, Curzio, Basilio, and the Count all wear glasses, and Figaro dons sunglasses when messing with the Count in act 2. It’s that old cliché: people take off their glasses to indicate sincerity. (I take off my glasses to make the world go all blurry.) Another quirk—and something I’ve found annoying in other Marthaler productions—is facial “tics” and spasms he gives Bartolo and Basilio (in particular). It’s disturbing, which might be the idea, but it’s certainly not humorous. 

The Count fancies himself a Latin lover. 

He attempts an awkward Tango with Susanna.

Marthaler and Camberling have a really solid cast here. The standouts for me are Peter Mattei (why have I not heard him before?) and Christine Schäfer–one of the most convincing sopranos in pants around. All of the secondary roles are sung well. I have mentioned Helene Schneider favorably before. Christina Oelze is an acceptable countess (though Dorothea Roschmann shouldn’t lose any sleep over this performance). Lorenzo Ragazzo and Heidi Grant Murphy are a lovable, loving, and vivacious Figaro and Susanna; they’re probably a lot of fun at parties.

In case we forget the “craziness” of the day, the action occasionally pauses so that various characters can pose for the maestro to take their photo; and Marcellina is surprised to find out they haven’t cut her Act 4 aria. Again, I rather enjoy the self-consciousness of the production. Opera is a pretty artificial art form. Why pretend it’s not? I liked this performance. It’s quirky, strange, artificial, and fun, and yet they don’t try to drain the humor out of the work. On the other hand it's not in my list of top 10 must-have Nozzes.

The DVD also includes an hour-long “documentary” of how this production came together, including interviews with the director, maestro, and most of the cast. Sometimes it's good to see these as a prelude to the performance, but I recommend watching it after the opera.

More Peter Mattei as the Count (because we can.)

Read Part 1