Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Opera review: Cosi fan tutte | 4/5

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Lyric Opera’s (SLO) staging of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte is a turnaround from the disappointment that was La Traviata last year and shows what a difference solid direction and casting can make.

SLO's Cosi fan tutte. Photo: SLO

SLO's Cosi fan tutte. Photo: SLO

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Lyric Opera’s (SLO) staging of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte is a turnaround from the disappointment that was La Traviata last year and shows what a difference solid direction and casting can make.

A set that evokes the languour of a colonial Southeast Asian hotel (designed by Christopher Chua and lit by Adrian Tan) does not seem out of place – and even manages to set the tone for comedic hijinks.

The storyline is the stuff of Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde: When Ferrando (sung by Raffaele d’Ascanio) and Guglielmo (Park Byeong-in) boast a bit too much about their lovers’ fidelity, Don Alfonso (David Hibbard) makes them put their money where their mouths are. Rising a bit too eagerly to the challenge, they disguise themselves as Albanians and launch a seductive assault on the girls Fiordiligi (Rachelle Gerodias) and Dorabella (Du Qin), assisted by Despina, the maid (Ee Ping).

To match the ridiculousness of the plot, the production is suitably light-handed and tongue-in-cheek, making this the SLO’s most enjoyable show in a few years, as fellow opera-goers were overheard remarking.

It benefits enormously from Tom Hawkes’s inspired direction, which creates the kind of symmetry conducive to comedy while including funny little flourishes that make all the difference.

Mozart’s lovely arias were, for the most part, prettily sung. But should the cast ever decide to give up their day jobs as accomplished singers, there is a career waiting for them in physical comedy.

In disguise, the men are less Albanian and more Elbonian, to side-splitting effect. While the audience laughed out loud, the cast was having just as much fun, with Du Qin and Ee Ping clearly relishing the opportunity to be perhaps the hammiest performers ever to grace the SLO’s stage – and all while giving solid vocal performances. Together with the orchestra, conducted by Joshua Kangming Tan, they set the stage alight with life.

Cosi fan tutte runs until tonight (March 3), 8pm at the Esplanade Theatre. Tickets from S$28 to S$130 from Sistic.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.