Caught somewhere between love and mustaches
Portland Opera's 'Cosi Fan Tutte' offers light-heartedness to an often heavy genre
Jessie Hethcoat
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Living
"Are they flesh and bone, or are they angels?" Ferrando and Guglielmo ask of their lovers, two sisters named Dorabella and Fiordiligi. An opera addressing the complexities of love, fidelity and gender, Portland Opera's latest production, "Cosi Fan Tutte," premieres tomorrow, Feb. 5.
"Cosi Fan Tutte" is an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This particular opera is lighter than most others, without death or tragedy. The music itself is indicative of this lightness, having a particularly airy and wistful feel.
In the opera, two sisters, Fiordiligi played by soprano Lauren Skuce and Dorabella played by mezzo-soprano Angelina Niederloh, are engaged to two men named Guglielmo, played by baritone Keith Phares, and Ferrando, played by tenor Ryan McPherson.
A friend of the men, Don Alfonso, played by baritone Robert Orth, bets that he can get their sweethearts to fall in love with someone else. Eventually, the men leave and come back disguised as dashing "Albanians" and attempt to court each other's fiancées.
Both Skuce and Niederloh did fantastic jobs of playing the tongue-in-cheek, slightly updated versions of the two sisters. While Niederloh shined in her humorous scenes, Skuce's heartbreak and guilt were penetratingly authentic.
Phares and McPherson are proof that opera can bring not just chuckles, but real, bona fide laughter to a theater. When they come on stage dressed as the "dashing" Albanians, they sport gaudy, ostentatious clothing but, most notably, some fantastically awful moustaches.
"Our moustaches are triumphs of masculinity," they sing, "and plumes of love."
Orth's performace was incredible. From the first moment of the opera, when he is the first to walk out in the stage, he has an evil gleam in his eye that automatically tilts the head of the viewer. Soprano Christine Brandes, who plays Despina, was also a standout performer.
Her role as the calculating, slightly crude and very hilarious maid of the sisters brought some of the best comical scenes of the play. She, along with the Phares and McPherson, were allowed many chances to showcase their "bad acting" skills while fooling the sisters.
"Cosi Fan Tutte" is an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This particular opera is lighter than most others, without death or tragedy. The music itself is indicative of this lightness, having a particularly airy and wistful feel.
In the opera, two sisters, Fiordiligi played by soprano Lauren Skuce and Dorabella played by mezzo-soprano Angelina Niederloh, are engaged to two men named Guglielmo, played by baritone Keith Phares, and Ferrando, played by tenor Ryan McPherson.
A friend of the men, Don Alfonso, played by baritone Robert Orth, bets that he can get their sweethearts to fall in love with someone else. Eventually, the men leave and come back disguised as dashing "Albanians" and attempt to court each other's fiancées.
Both Skuce and Niederloh did fantastic jobs of playing the tongue-in-cheek, slightly updated versions of the two sisters. While Niederloh shined in her humorous scenes, Skuce's heartbreak and guilt were penetratingly authentic.
Phares and McPherson are proof that opera can bring not just chuckles, but real, bona fide laughter to a theater. When they come on stage dressed as the "dashing" Albanians, they sport gaudy, ostentatious clothing but, most notably, some fantastically awful moustaches.
"Our moustaches are triumphs of masculinity," they sing, "and plumes of love."
Orth's performace was incredible. From the first moment of the opera, when he is the first to walk out in the stage, he has an evil gleam in his eye that automatically tilts the head of the viewer. Soprano Christine Brandes, who plays Despina, was also a standout performer.
Her role as the calculating, slightly crude and very hilarious maid of the sisters brought some of the best comical scenes of the play. She, along with the Phares and McPherson, were allowed many chances to showcase their "bad acting" skills while fooling the sisters.
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