The Marriage of Figaro 2000

Synopsis
Artists

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.

Music By

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto By

Lorenzo da Ponte

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.

Act II

The Countess’s boudoir (forenoon). Figaro and Susanna conspire with the Countess to trick the Count. They will dress Cherubino as Susanna for a rendezvous with the Count. The Count interrupts their preparations, however, and Cherubino hides next door. He manages to escape by jumping from the window, and Susanna quickly takes his place before the Count can get the door unlocked. Figaro, coming to collect the ladies for the wedding ceremony, covers up for Cherubino but then finds himself trapped by Dr. Bartolo and Marcellina’s false matrimonial demands. The Count postpones the wedding until he can study the case.

Act III

A hall in the palace (afternoon). The Countess, who longs to regain her husband’s love, schemes with Susanna to engineer a tryst with the Count in the garden at night. The Count’s plan to force Figaro’s marriage to Marcellina is thwarted when it is discovered that Marcellina and Dr. Bartolo are actually Figaro’s parents.

The Countess resolves to expose the Count by dictating a love letter to him from Susanna, including a pin, which is to be returned as his reply.

The Count is forced to hold a double wedding: Figaro and Susanna; Dr. Bartolo and Marcellina.

Act IV

The park of the palace (evening). Susanna and the Countess exchange dresses and pretend to be one another. Both the Count and Cherubino pay court to “Susanna,” actually the Countess. At first Figaro misunderstands, thinking Susanna is betraying him. But once he realizes the game, he plays along and woos “the Countess” to irritate Susanna. The Count is incensed by what he takes to be his wife’s infidelity and calls upon the others to join in condemning her. Finally, the real Countess reveals her identity and accepts the Count’s plea for forgiveness, whereupon the four couples — Figaro and Susanna, the Count and Countess, Cherubino and Barbarina, and Dr. Bartolo and Marcellina— celebrate the end of “the day of madness.”

The Marriage of Figaro 2000

Synopsis

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Artists

John Relyea

John Relyea

Catrin Wyn-Davies

Catrin Wyn-Davies

Joyce DiDonato

Joyce DiDonato

Jochen Schmeckenbecher

Jochen Schmeckenbecher

Alwyn Mellor

Alwyn Mellor

Kevin Langan

Kevin Langan

Dale Travis

Dale Travis

Catherine Cook

Catherine Cook

Judith Christin

Judith Christin

Jerold Siena

Jerold Siena

Patrick Carfizzi

Patrick Carfizzi

Michael Ryan

Michael Ryan

Deborah van Renterghem

Deborah van Renterghem

Amy O'Brien

Amy O'Brien

Celena Shafer

Celena Shafer

Kenneth Montgomery

Kenneth Montgomery

Thor Steingraber

Thor Steingraber

Duane Schuler

Duane Schuler

Peggy Hickey

Peggy Hickey

Robert Moody

Robert Moody

The Marriage of Figaro 2000