OPERA: COSI FAN TUTTE
- Author:
- Irina Dunn
- Posted:
- Monday, 21 September 2009
Mozart’s comic opera Così Fan Tutte is given new life in Jim Sharman’s direction of a tale of love tested, betrayed and then restored, similar to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. When two young officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, swear their fiancés Dorabella and Fiordiligi will always remain faithful, their cynical friend Alfonso sets out to prove the opposite. The two young men disguise themselves as foreigners under Alfonso’s direction, and eventually succeed in seducing their unsuspecting partners. Needless to say, after some uncomfortable moments, the young men are reconciled to their fiancés and it ends happily for all concerned. The director of Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Picture Show is no stranger to opera, having directed Voss and Death in Venice. Sharman searched around for his cast, crew and conductor and put together an ensemble that brings a fresh approach to Cosi. Rachelle Durkin is a delightful Fiordiligi, bringing to her character an appealing urgency and pathos, while Sian Pendry is quite the feisty Dorabella. Henry Choo and Shane Lowrencev give their young men an endearing naivete while Tiffany Speight steals the show as the maidservant Despina. Young Australian conductor Simon Hewett, fresh from the Paris Opera Orchestra, accepted Sharman’s invitation and returned to Australia for the season to lead the orchestra through this musical delight.
Until Oct 29, Sydney Opera House, $93-250, 9318 8200 or opera-australia.org.au
Photo by Branco Gaica
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October 15th, 2009 @ 12:23 pm
what a fantastic production. This modern take, in english, will see the next generation fall in love with opera. Well done Opera Australia.