(L-R) Alexandra Smither and Bruno Roy, AtG Theatre, “Figaro’s Wedding”, Photo by Taylor Long (edited for Blue Riband)
(program)
Against The Grain Theatre’s production of Figaro’s Wedding opened on December 3rd, 2019 at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse.
Creative:
Joel Ivany - Stage Director & Librettist
Rachael Kerr - Music Director
Siobhan Sleath - Lighting Designer
Anna Treusch - Set & Costume Design
Cast:
Bruno Roy, Miriam Khalil, Alexandra Smither, Phillip Addis, Lauren Eberwein, Jacques Arsenault, Maria Soulis and Gregory Finney
who doesn’t love a wedding? don’t answer that, but do consider attending Figaro’s Wedding——particularly if nuptials tend to soften you to the triumphs, tragedies, and outright silliness of our fragile emotional lives. Against the Grain (AtG) Theatre’s simultaneously earnest and hilarious adaptation of mozart’s 1786 Le Nozze di Figaro has accomplished the near-impossible feat of intertwining passionate vocal performances with spot-on humour, and a perfect balance of immersion and spectacle to make the deep pleasures of traditional opera bloom in contemporary eyes and ears.
AtG Theatre, “Figaro’s Wedding”, Photo by Taylor Long (edited for Blue Riband)
this month’s 12-show run of Figaro’s Wedding has a lot in common with La Bohème, which kicked off AtG’s 10th anniversary season earlier this fall: both are reprisals of early company successes (Figaro’s premiere staging won a dora award in 2014), both are modernized english adaptations of canonical operas by AtG artistic director joel ivany, and both strive for immersive audience experiences in somewhat unusual concert settings. nonetheless, the current production’s opening proved that ivany’s approach to modernizing opera is far from formulaic. by substituting La Bohème’s over-reliance on contemporary references with a subtler and ultimately more powerful attention to music, pacing, and characterization, Figaro’s Wedding played off precisely those unique strengths of mozart’s classic that allow it to resonate across the centuries.
(L-R) Khalil and Eberwein. AtG Theatre, “Figaro’s Wedding”, Photo by Taylor Long (edited for Blue Riband)
most notably, Figaro’s Wedding capitalized on its central conceit—that audience members are bride and groom Susanna and Figaro’s wedding guests at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, adjacent to the Distillery district, a site chosen for its popularity as a real-life wedding venue——not only to pull off a genuinely participatory theatrical event, but also to unlock the timelessness of Le Nozze di Figaro’s comedy of errors. on one hand, it was incomparably fun snapping cell phone pictures of the bride as she cavorted down the aisle, getting pelted with flower petals and confetti, and singing along with the otherwise brilliant baritone bruno roy’s terrible rendition of “my girl” at the reception. remarkably, though, the scene of an old town toronto wedding also granted relatability and even a semblance of plausibility to the opera’s outlandish plot, in which a motley crew of comic types who would otherwise want little to do with one another become embroiled in high-drama exchanges of business, friendship, family, love, and sex (in all its glorious vulgarity).
(L-R) Addis and Smither. AtG Theatre, “Figaro’s Wedding”, Photo by Taylor Long (edited for Blue Riband)
by interspersing its luscious, swelling arias with snatches of realist dialogue, the production also laid out the perfect entryway for 21st-century audiences to appreciate the diverse emotional resonances of mozart’s original music. shining through the outward-facing behaviours of the quirky characters they portrayed, the cast’s vocal performances felt like interdimensional windows into their inner emotional worlds. for phillip addis’s portrayal of best man Alberto——an inspired adaptation of original librettist lorenzo da ponte’s lecherous Count into a middle-aged, leather-jacketed creep who isn’t nearly as cool as he thinks——the arias brought out a powerful baritone that kept hitting more and more striking intensities, mirroring the character’s sinister imposition of money and influence. voicing the love-crazed grad student Cherubino, lauren eberwein’s buoyant, high-energy, and immediately room-filling soprano revealed the explosive heart behind her character’s alternately coquettish and saucy façade. finally, soprano miriam khalil’s richly textured, luxuriantly rounded notes——which were especially prominent in her solo arias——worked an incredible depth into the lovelorn Rosina’s cynical exterior. backed by even, expansive performances by soprano alexandra smither (Susanna) and baritone bruno roy (Figaro) in addition to compelling arrangements by guest musical director rachael kerr’s piano quintet, these standouts surprised beyond all expectations.
though each of its elements is expertly selected, Figaro’s Wedding——like a good marriage, actually——is far more than the sum of its parts. the show approaches the status of a perfect adaption, brimming with both unbridled originality and an empathic appreciation for its source. yet it is also immensely successful beyond any familiarity with opera or its tradition, presenting an unforgettably delightful encounter between the excesses of art and the absurdities of real life.
John Nyman is a poet, critic and scholar from Toronto. In addition to reviewing for Opera Canada and The Dance Current as part of the 2018/19 Emerging Arts Critics program, he has reviewed literature for publications including Broken Pencil and The Puritan as well as visual art for Border Crossings and Peripheral Review.