United States Salieri, Falstaff, ossia Le tre burle: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Chicago Opera Theater / Christine Brandes (conductor). Studebaker Theater, Chicago, 6.12.2025. (ZC)
Before Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Antonio Salieri’s Falstaff began, General Director Lawrence Edelson posed a question to the audience in Chicago’s famed Studebaker Theater: How many people had heard an opera by Antonio Salieri? Fewer than six hands went up. The question was pointedly rhetorical: the Italian-born Viennese composer is opera’s most notorious footnote, a composer whose reputation was tarnished not by his music but by rumor, innuendo and a playwright’s imagination. Peter Shaffer’s celebrated work for stage, Amadeus, and its subsequent film adaptation cast Salieri as a villain, a mediocre counterpoint to Mozart’s genius.
Shaffer was only the latest to forge art out of the innuendo surrounding Salieri’s relationship with Mozart. But history has been less kind than it should have been. Luckily for Windy City ears, Chicago Opera Theater has made a practice of excavating works that deserve better than obscurity, and this season’s opening production made a strong case for one of Salieri’s comedic operas. Falstaff, based on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, may be the only Salieri opera scheduled to be staged in the United States this season. The company’s new production, transplanting the action to a modern-day tropical resort, proved that Salieri’s score is more than a curiosity: it is genuine, enjoyable theater.
The opera opens at Windsor Beach Resort, a tropical paradise where Salieri’s overture bubbles up from the pit. The comic action unfolds at a brisk pace, clocking in at a little over two hours, including an intermission. Though Shakespeare’s play has multiple intertwined plots, Salieri’s opera smartly streamlines this, focusing on Falstaff and the three pranks while tightening the action into a two-act structure that never drags.
Falstaff, an aging and uncouth womanizer, devises a half-baked ‘plan’ to woo Mistresses Ford and Slender. Falstaff sends the women identical love letters which the ladies immediately recognize as part of a scheme. They decide to take revenge by drawing Falstaff into a series of pranks.
The tricks escalate with satisfying theatrical logic. First, they fool Falstaff into hiding in a laundry hamper from which he is dumped into the resort’s pool. Next, he gets tricked into wearing women’s clothing, stumbling across the stage in heels. The final humiliation takes place at night in a park where Falstaff is persuaded to appear in a fantastical costume, believing he will finally enjoy a romantic triumph at a midnight masquerade. Instead, the resort staff dress as fairies and mythical creatures. Descending on Falstaff, they mock and torment him and then reveal their true identities, forcing him to admit his folly.
Christine Brandes led the orchestra with lightness, providing solid support for her cast while driving the comic action forward. The conductor, who impressed me in a 2023 production of Handel’s Alcina with the Seattle Opera, is a real talent at the podium. Hopefully, Brandes will have more opportunities to showcase her talents to Chicago audiences.
The Studebaker Theater’s relatively small size was an asset. Projecting was less of an issue than clarity, flexibility and comic timing. Christian Pursell as Falstaff was humorous and pitiable, striking just the right balance for this role. He led with a strong voice that conveyed vulnerability as needed. Vanessa Becerra and Tzytle Steinman – Mistresses Ford and Slender, respectively – were delightful coconspirators, delivering pointed wit. Andrew Morstein as Master Ford was at his best alone, delivering his part with jealous abandon, though his middle range disappeared in ensembles. His performance grew more memorable as the opera progressed, anchoring the second act. As Bardolfo, Falstaff’s servant, Peter Morgan set the tone for the afternoon with a dark-hued voice that combined humor with frustration. The remaining cast dazzled when given the chance, especially Denis Vélez with her smooth-voiced soprano as Betty, a resort staff person.
Andrew Boyce’s set placed the action in a lush, modular resort of palm fronds and bright hues that was visually light and endlessly adaptable. Jessica Pabst’s costumes leaned into playful modernity: guests in tropical prints and a chorus decked in khaki shorts and polos. The concept flirted with whimsy but stopped short of parody. The world onstage felt coherent, even plausible, for Salieri’s mix of mischief and manners. Only Cori Ellison’s supertitles, updated linguistically for modern eyes, were a distraction – they occasionally pressed too hard to translate eighteenth-century content for a twenty-first-century audience. Stray pop-culture nods didn’t always land, and the production’s humor didn’t need help: Salieri’s timing was already doing the work.
For most opera lovers, Falstaff conjures Verdi’s final masterwork – wise, self-aware and suffused with melancholy. Salieri’s version could hardly be more different. His Falstaff is a farce; a musical comedy of errors built on rhythm and contrast rather than psychological depth. But in this truthful, quicksilver staging, that comic immediacy became its virtue. The score may never lodge in the memory the way Mozart’s music does, yet scene by scene it sparkles. The ensembles hum with character, and recitatives snap with conversation. Under Brandes’s direction, every note felt in service of theater rather than a display.
Chicago Opera Theater’s rendition of Salieri’s Falstaff reminded the audience that fun need not apologize for itself. If Verdi’s version is prestige television, Salieri’s is a nimble, tightly scripted network comedy. The laughter it earned was spontaneous and sincere. In a world that burdens Salieri with envy and rumor, this production served as a light-hearted corrective. Here was an artist whose sense of stagecraft and humor stood entirely on its own.
Zach Carstensen
Featured Image: Chicago Opera Theater’s Falstaff © Michael Brosilow
Production:
Director – Robin Guarino
Sets – Andrew Boyce
Costumes – Jessica Pabst
Lighting – Thomas Hase
Cast:
Falstaff – Christian Pursell
Mistress Ford – Vanessa Becerra
Mistress Slender – Tzytle Steinman
Master Ford – Andrew Morstein
Master Slender – Laureano Quant
Betty – Denis Vélez
Bardolfo – Peter Morgan