It was comedy and more comedy this opening weekend of the Santa Fe Opera. Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro followed swiftly on the heels of Verdi’s Falstaff. This exquisite new production directed by Jonathan Kent fully captures the radical spirit of a play once banned throughout Europe.
 

In Beaumarchais’ infamous satire Mozart found the perfect match for his rambunctious imagination and ribald sense of humor. The story takes place as the bourgeois capitalist class had all but come into its own rendering the aristocracy as essentially redundant, even parasitic. That sense of imminent social change permeates the spirit of the opera and motivates its humor.

Any quality production of Figaro requires at least a quartet of outstanding lead singers, but here we have voices to spare. Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni makes his SFO debut, bringing a singular enthusiasm to the title role. He carries off the familiar tunes with an easy confidence and playful demeanor as the action always ultimately revolves around him. Elizabeth Watts sparkles as Susanna, his betrothed, making an excellent match in irrepressible energy and passionate singing. Her Deh vieni non tardar (Come now, delay not) in the final Act is a masterpiece of irony.

Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien, who took everyone by surprise as the company’s 2004 Don Giovanni, returns as the dictatorial Count Almaviva. A commanding stage presence, Kwiecien brings to the role the same sense of entitlement as the Don, though Almaviva is less successful in his efforts at seduction. Kwiecien’s arresting dramatic vocal execution finds full measure in Hai gia vinta la causa (Their case is won!) which opens the third act.

Susanna Phillips, too, has quickly become a Santa Fe Mozart favorite, as we saw her as Fiordiligi in last year’s Cosi, and as Pamina in the previous year’s Magic Flute. Her radiantly lustrous soprano brings an exceptional pathos to the neglected Countess. Dove sono (Where are the golden moments) in the third act features a breathtaking pianissimo repeat of the primary melody.

So thoroughly has she digested the role, one could almost mistake Isabel Leonard’s Cherubino for a teenage boy except for her high-sounding mezzo. Cherubino, an adolescent male, sung by a female, dressed in “drag” makes love to the Countess. You can’t bend the genders any more than that. That his/her passionate outburst Non so piu and presentation song Voi che sapete (You who know what love is) still sound fresh after having been sung literally millions of times since he put pen to paper, attest to the genius that is Mozart.

The small roles too are filled with outstanding voices, especially esteemed Welsh veteran Gwynne Howell, whose mellifluous bass is heard all too little during the evening.

Kenneth Montgomery’s is a welcome baton (even though he conducts with his hands) in any Mozart production, and he leads the excellent SFO orchestra in clean and ever-animated playing throughout. The careful building of the continuous ensemble from duet to septet to end the second act adds enormously to the comedy implicit.

One enters the theater to find the stage a field of flowers, a perfect metaphor for the beauty of the music one is about to hear. Rococo-style sets are pushed side to side with the field of flowers forever looming in the background.

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