United States Mozart, Così fan tutte: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of LA Opera / James Conlon (conductor). Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, 16.3.2025. (JRo)
Like a benign Mephistopheles or a puckish Sarastro, Don Alfonso sets the action rolling in Mozart and Da Ponte’s Così fan tutte. Is it mischief-making, or is Alfonso attempting to impart wisdom to the opera’s two betrothed couples? Given Mozart and Da Ponte’s Enlightenment roots, I vote for wisdom. Mozart’s sublime music certainly supports that notion: it uplifts the story of two ordinary sisters and their fiancés into a timeless tale that embraces the weaknesses of human nature and allows us to see our own flaws with acceptance and good humor.
Like film comedies of the early twentieth century – Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise and Design for Living or Renoir’s Rules of the Game – Così looks at love and desire with understanding and tolerance. The LA Opera production, which originated in San Francisco in 2021, updates the action to an elegant American country club in the 1930s. There is a swimming pool with lounge chairs, an exercise room for the women, a men’s locker room, an upscale dining room, a badminton court and a cocktail lounge with pool table. Every set is a classic of its kind and would be at home in a thirties film comedy (think The Philadelphia Story or The Lady Eve).
The set, with a handsome Beaux Arts façade composed of moveable panels that also doubled as interior walls, was conceived by designer Erhard Rom. Jane Cox was responsible for the clever lighting: there were reflections on exterior walls from the water in the swimming pool and subtle changes in the sky from sunny mornings to pale sunsets. Costumes were exaggerated for humorous effect and reminded me of Coco Chanel’s creations for Bronislava Nijinska’s 1924 ballet, Le Train Bleu.
Before seeing the production, I wondered whether updating the opera from 1790 to the 1930s would work. After all, how can two Americans feign going off to war and come back the next day when there were no conflicts close to home? Though skeptical at first, I was carried away by the shenanigans onstage, and those literal concerns vanished the moment the curtain went up on the Wolfbridge Country Club. Conceived by Michael Cavanagh, who directed the San Francisco production before his untimely death, the LAO production was spearheaded by Shawna Lucey, and the direction is sure, choreographed with maximum comedic effect.
Mozart’s score is swoon-worthy with its bubbling rhythms and tender melodies. James Conlon and the LAO Orchestra transported the singers and audience alike to a timeless Shakespearean universe of hidden agendas, characters in disguise, trickery and love.
Don Alfonso wagers Ferrando and Guglielmo that their loyal fiancées, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, won’t remain faithful if wooed by other men (the other men being themselves in disguise wooing the opposite sister). Alfonso is their tutor in the ways of women and wants the pair to enter marriage with their eyes open. He enlists the maid Despina as his co-conspirator, and the six principals ride a roller coaster of ups and downs before the opera’s end.
As Don Alfonso, the seasoned and charismatic baritone Rod Gilfry managed to convey an impish quality within his six foot plus frame. The role is the centerpiece of the opera, and Gilfry neither overacted nor ignored the potential for high comedy (he nimbly hid behind a potted plant which he moved from place to place as stealthily as Bugs Bunny). His trio with the sisters, ‘Soave sia il vento’, was a harmonious marriage between singers and orchestra as comedy is cast off for tender feeling at the end of Act I, Scene 6.
The sisters, sung by Erica Petrocelli as Fiordiligi and Rihab Chaieb as Dorabella, were well matched vocally. Petrocelli has a bright and powerful soprano that complimented Chaieb’s buttery mezzo-soprano. Without an excess of ornamentation, they gave the singing a wonderfully concentrated feeling. They handled the slapstick with aplomb, whether careening into walls, missing and swinging on the badminton court or collapsing on sofas.
Anthony León as Ferrando and Justin Austin as Guglielmo were a circus sideshow unto themselves. They slid across the stage on their knees, showed off their biceps like strongmen, shook their legs like wet dogs trying to get dry and looked adorable in their vintage tank bathing suits. León’s tenor grew in beauty as the performance progressed, culminating in his expressive aria, ‘Ah, lo veggio, quell’anima bella’. Austin’s baritone was supple and vivid and his stage presence arresting. The pair used their height differential to great comedic effect: Austin tall and muscular, Leon small but mighty.
The surprise of the afternoon was seeing the elegant Ana María Martínez inhabit the role of Despina. Usually cast in the principal soprano role, Martínez was a wonder as the maid. With her slight frame and frizzy wig, she could have been Gilda Radner’s twin as the Roseanne Roseannadanna character of Saturday Night Live. Whether stirring hot chocolate and singing her first aria, disguised as the doctor in flannel golf pants wielding a giant magnet in a Mesmer spoof or masquerading as the notary with his oversized ledger, Martínez’s voice enchanted with the radiance of her agile instrument.
In an effort to modernize the ending, the women seem to shun the men, separating themselves from them for part of the finale. This distracted from the question the opera’s finale poses: which male/female pairing will win out – the original or the Albanian; and, ultimately, does it matter if everyone reaches their heart’s desire? At least Mozart and Da Ponte were enlightened and experienced enough to embrace the ambivalence of their characters and to revel in what makes us human.
Jane Rosenberg
Featured Image: Justin Austin (Guglielmo), Anthony León (Ferrando) in lounge chairs © Cory Weaver
Production:
Original Production – Michael Cavanagh
Director – Shawna Lucey
Sets / Projection – Erhard Rom
Costumes – Constance Hoffman
Lighting – Jane Cox
Intimacy director – Sara E. Widzer
Chorus director – Jeremy Frank
Cast:
Fiordiligi – Erica Petrocelli
Dorabella – Rihab Chaieb
Ferrando – Anthony León
Guglielmo – Justin Austin
Despina – Ana María Martínez
Don Alfonso – Rod Gilfry