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Conductor
Mark
Wigglesworth
Director
Matthew
Warchus
Designer
Laura Hopkins
Translation
Jeremy Sams
Fiordiligi
Claire
Weston
(standing in for
Susan Gritton)
Dorabella
Mary Plazas
Ferrando
Toby Spence
Guglielmo
Christopher
Maltman
Despina
Janis Kelly
Alfonso
Andrew
Shore
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London
Coliseum
29
May - 4 July 2002 |
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Scholars
and aficionados debate Cosi
Fan Tutte's magical
combination of Da Ponte's light libretto
and Mozart's exquisite and often profound
score, claiming – with much justice
– that in the soul-searching of
Fiordiligi and Ferrando there are darker
shadows than the bright light of the
frank and sometimes cynical Enlightenment
knew how to throw. In this production
the witty and musically apt translation
by Jeremy Sams inclines Da Ponte's way,
emphasising the comedy; but although
director Matthew Warchus capitalises
on the fun in the situation as Sams
reveals it, in the end he inclines Mozart's
way, and Ferrando's despair and Fiordiligi's
heart-rending difficulty manifest themselves
powerfully through his reading of their
dilemma.
Andrew
Shore as Alfonso and Janis Kelly as
Despina are superb, perfect for their
parts, and solid as rocks in framing
and shaping the whole. The variety,
wit and relief provided by the Despina
role demands a consummate actress as
well as a perceptive singer, and Janis
Kelly answers the call exactly. Indeed
the acting is strong all round, with
Mary Plazas giving a superb comic account
as Dorabella, a far lighter and more
plastic personality than Fiordiligi,
far less troubled by her infidelity,
quicker to bend to the gale of love
that the disguised fiancé's blow
over the sisters; and in the hand of
a very good actress like Plazas, a delightful
role.
One of
the most striking features of the performance
seen by this reviewer was Claire Weston's
substitution for an ill Susan Gritton
as Fiordiligi. She sang it beautifully,
understood its depth, acted the part
as if born to it, and did not put a
foot wrong. It was a splendid achievement.
It is a difficult role, as much psychologically
as musically – perhaps one of the
most difficult in all of Mozart's operas.
To step in at a late hour and give an
outstanding performance is really something,
and should do Claire Weston's career
a power of good.
Under
Mark Wigglesworth's baton some passages
of the music were played a beat or half
beat more slowly than usual, enhancing
the poetry of the lyrical passages,
and by slowing the action allowing the
soliloquies space to unfold. Where the
tempi needed to be brisk or bright,
they were; the combination proved a
subtle and interesting exercise.
In its
1930s setting, with spats and gangster-type
broad-lapelled suits for the men and
brown dresses for the women, the production
was visually entertaining but not in
that respect memorable. The trappings
fell into insignificance beside the
music, all of which flows from the summit
of Mozart's achievement, and the gripping
and in part unsettling mixture of comedy
and tragedy it conveys. In any disguise
Cosi
Fan Tutte is
a work of genius, and when attention
turns from the spellbinding music to
the debate it enfolds, one is left asking
more questions than Alfonso seems to
propose at the outset – a characteristic
legacy of great art.
AC
Grayling |
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