My guess is that R. Kelly probably watched Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro while he was coming up with Trapped in the Closet.
Much like Mr. Kelly’s hip-hopera, the classic 1786 opera involves multiple miscommunications, shocking personal revelations, and cases of mistaken identity. Also, there’s a scene where a seducing scoundrel named Cherubino is trapped in a closet and the characters, including a jealous axe-wielding husband, argue passionately and at length about whether or not to open the closet.
In 2015, the opera is not an art form we are really trained to pay attention. The actors and actresses sing in languages that we often don’t understand to music that just isn’t familiar to us anymore, and without microphones. The plots are often melodramatic and difficult to follow. This is why I was a little tentative attending Opera Lyra’s performance of The Marriage of Figaro.
Live theatre demands a kind of engagement and immersion that is unlike any other sort of performance, especially when you have to read subtitles while watching that live performance. I was all too aware of this fact during Figaro, luckily the payoff was well worth the effort. Opera Lyra staged an excellent production, bolstered with Edwardian style sets and costumes and lively performances.
The Marriage of Figaro, eventually reached just as much recognition as its predecessor and acclaim as its predecessor, The Barber of Seville. Call it the Toy Story 2 or maybe the Dark Knight of the opera world. In The Barber of Seville Figaro, a wily youth helps Count Almaviva win the lovely Rosina from the obsessive Dr. Bartolo. Fast forward 10 years or so and Figaro is the head servant at the Count’s house and soon to be wedded.
Count Almaviva has gone from being a lovelorn young man in Barber to a cheating jerk in Figaro and he’s set his eyes on Figaro’s bride to be, Susanna. This comes from a purported medieval law, Droit du seigneur, which allowed a lord the right to sleep with a serving girl of his choice. Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess plan to thwart him by orchestrating situations in which the Count will be caught cheating and properly shamed.
Sound confusing? It only gets more convoluted and fun, especially with the introduction of the hormone-addled youth Cherubino, played by vibrant actress Wallis Giunta. Cherubino isn’t onstage for long before he begins to leap about and sing in a soaring soprano about his need to express love for all women everywhere. Predictably, his exuberance gets in the way of our heroes’ schemes.
In Mozart’s time, part of Cherubino would have been played by a castrato (a man castrated in his youth, so as to preserve his voice), but now it’s a woman’s role and there’s something particularly interesting about a woman taking on the role of an impassioned young man in a play largely about gender politics.
While the play stays at a madcap fever pitch for most of the run, the action slowed for the Countess Almaviva to sing the beautiful lament “Dove Sono.” As the Countess, Nathalie Paulin brought exactly the right amount of strength and dignity to a woman who has long been wronged by her husband and is done with it. The performances of Figaro (John Brancy) and Susanna (Sasha Djihanian) were also a high point in the production.
Brancy’s comic timing is excellent and Djihanian bring a delightful amount of sass to her role. The final scene, in which the lovers test each other through deception only to realize that they are perfectly matched as a couple, was both hilarious and touching.
My final verdict: for the everyday student attending an opera takes effort, but it’s immersive in a totally unique way and an altogether rewarding experience.
