Playwright: music & lyrics by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
At: Chicago Opera Theater at Millennium Park's Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph
Phone: ( 312 ) 704-8414; $30-$105
Runs through: May 14
What most distinguishes Chicago Opera Theater's productions from those at the—um, other end of Randolph Street is how EASY they make it for us. The plot for Le nozze di Figaro, aka The Marriage of Figaro, involves a private hairdresser preparing to marry his beloved, only to discover that his lecherous employer wants to bed the bride first—an audacious proposal nowadays, but legally permitted at the time of our story's setting. How the happy couple thwart this plan, assisted by their fellow servants and the boss's wife, makes for high-jinks replete with people hiding under furniture, swapping clothes, and all talking at the same time—which, as we know, sounds much prettier when set to music.
But the 'theater' in this company's name is there for a reason. Under the guidance of director Diane Paulus and conductor Jane Glover, 16th-century Seville becomes fashionable Miami, the wedding reception is a luau on the beach, and the Count of Almaviva enters at one point toting his golf clubs. The English translations superimposed over the proscenium reflect this modern idiom ( 'I sent him a text message' Figaro says, waving his cell-phone ) as do the costumes—an aging bawd done up as a Tammy Faye lookalike, for example—to make the characters instantly recognizable to contemporary audiences. And if this takes some of the fun out of the gender-bending gimmick of having the lovesick Cherubino dress up as a girl, the awareness that this horny teenage 'boy' is played by a woman should restore the titillation factor to those playgoers also noting that Basilio boogaloos with a same-sex partner in the disco-dance number.
It takes more than scenic flourishes, however. Mozart's hit-filled score for this comic romp brims over with trills, cadenzas and speed-singing patter. Figaro himself has three solos, his compatriots each at least one, in addition to duets, choruses and the athletics necessitated by the Harris' enormous stage. But an ensemble of young singers led by Christian Van Horn and Jane Archibald as the clever newlyweds bring it home in a spritely three hours with sparkle and energy to spare.
