
The Marriage of Figaro 2000
The barber takes a bride…
…and sorts out a few marital problems upstairs while he’s at it. Mozart tweaks the prevailing social class system and also has a thing or two to say about love and constancy – all in his most captivating score.
Synopsis
Act I
A room in the palace between the apartments of the Count and the Countess (early morning). Figaro, the barber who helped Count Almaviva win the hand of Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, is now valet in the Count’s household and preparing to wed the Countess’s maid, Susanna.
The Count has designs on Susanna and has given the couple a room near his own quarters. Figaro determines to thwart any hanky-panky, but first there is a blackmail scheme he must evade—marriage to Dr. Bartolo’s housekeeper, Marcellina—and the lovesick young page Cherubino to protect from the Count’s wrath. Cherubino seeks Susanna’s help but swiftly hides when the Count comes a-courting. The Count in turn has to hide when interrupted by the music master, Don Basilio, but comes forward when he hears Basilio insinuate that Cherubino is sweet on the Countess. Now really in hot water, Cherubino is momentarily saved when Figaro leads in a delegation of peasants who’ve come to salute the Count for abolishing the custom of droit du Seigneur, an old custom giving landowners the first night with any bride among his retainers. To be rid of Cherubino the Count appoints him to his regiment.
Artists

John Relyea
Bass-baritone
Figaro

Catrin Wyn-Davies
Soprano
Susanna

Joyce DiDonato
Mezzo-soprano
Cherubino

Jochen Schmeckenbecher
Baritone
Count Almaviva

Alwyn Mellor
Soprano
Countess Almaviva

Kevin Langan
Bass
Dr. Bartolo (July 1 - August 5)

Dale Travis
Bass-baritone
Dr. Bartolo (August 7 - 25)

Catherine Cook
Mezzo-soprano
Marcellina (July 1 - 12)

Judith Christin
Mezzo-soprano
Marcellina (August 1 - 25)

Jerold Siena
Baritone
Don Basilio

Patrick Carfizzi
Bass-Baritone
Antonio

Michael Ryan
Tenor
Don Curzio

Deborah van Renterghem
Soprano
Barbarina

Amy O'Brien
Soprano
Peasant Girl

Celena Shafer
Soprano
Peasant Girl

Kenneth Montgomery
Conductor

Thor Steingraber
Director

Duane Schuler
Lighting Designer

Peggy Hickey
Choreographer

Robert Moody
Chorusmaster