Review: Lyric Opera’s ‘Così fan tutte’ is a sparkling, high-energy take on Mozart’s 1790 operatic classic
Some operatic updates don’t work because they come off clumsy and narratively contradictory — often the result of stage directors trying too hard to be relevant or putting their sociopolitical stamp on a work.
But the shift of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Così fan tutte (Thus Do All Women)” to 1930s upper-crust America in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s new revival gives the opera a modern zing and just feels comfortable and fun.
This sparkling, high-energy take on the 1790 operatic classic, which premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 2021 and opened in Chicago Sunday afternoon for a six-performance run, is a winner in every way.
“Così” is often seen as something of a problematic opera from a 21st-century viewpoint, because of the central proposition that Mozart’s celebrated librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, uses as its dramatic fulcrum: All women are faithless in love.
It’s obviously meant to be a tongue-in-cheek notion that sets the farcical operatic comedy in play, with two male friends donning ridiculous disguises to test their fiancées’ fidelity, but there is an unmistakable cynicism that simmers underneath.
Smoothing these rough edges is Mozart’s endlessly appealing music, which infuses life into these characters and fills out the emotions, somehow making the unsatisfactory ending — everything returning to the way it was at the beginning — feel acceptable.
Despite a bobble or two Sunday in the French horns, the Lyric Opera Orchestra is in its usual fine form here. Music director Enrique Mazzola takes a fascinatingly understated yet still effective approach to the score, with Jerad Mosbey providing first-rate period stylings on the fortepiano.
Setting the production’s witty tone right at the beginning is a clever series of graphic projections, which let the audience know the action will be taking place at the seaside Wolfbridge Country Club, where Don Alfonso is the general manager and the phone number is Amadeus-1790. Get it?
The production’s original director, Michael Cavanagh (Roy Rallo served as the revival director here), who died in 2024, had a brilliant comic sense that suffuses everything from the vocal deliveries to the stage blocking and visual gags. He managed to convey both the story’s innate zaniness and underlying seriousness at every step.
Set and projection designer Erhard Rom pulls off the nifty trick of conveying an airy 1930s country-club aesthetic while also inserting neo-classical architectural elements that look back to the 18th century and hint at the opera’s roots.
Perhaps most important to the feel of this production are the wonderful costumes by Constance Hoffman that add to the comic merriment at every turn — the striped, over-the-top men’s full-body swimsuits or the women’s workout clothes complete with wacky funnel-like stocking caps.
With just six main characters, “Così” is the quintessential ensemble piece, and it requires strong, well-matched performers in every role for any production to succeed. To that end, Lyric has put together a superb cast of technically secure singers who also happen to be terrific comic actors.
It all starts with Rod Gilfry as Don Alfonso, the master manipulator who sets the plot in action and pushes it along. The veteran singer is a natural in this role, with his easy stage presence, enveloping baritone voice and an instinctive ability to extend a vocal line, shrug his shoulders or roll his eyes to get a laugh.
Soprano Ana María Martínez, who has appeared in 11 previous roles at Lyric, shows herself to be a delightful physical comedian. She makes the most of every scene as the shrewd, seen-it-all maid, Despina, whom Don Alfonso drags into his schemes with promises of money and jewelry.
Soprano Jacquelyn Stucker and mezzo-soprano Cecilia Molinari, who are both making notable Lyric debuts as the two engaged sisters — Fiordiligi and Dorabella, respectively — provide some of the production’s most memorable singing, especially in their stunning duets.
Stucker has a gleaming voice with considerable power and pinpoint control. She dazzles in her first-act aria, “Come scoglio (Like a Rock),” handling its tricky coloratura or ornamented singing and jumping across its two-plus octaves with agility and ease, showing off her beautiful upper and surprisingly strong bottom registers.
Baritone Ian Rucker as Guglielmo and tenor Anthony León as Ferrando are both first-rate, expressive singers, and, like the rest of the cast, they give their all for laughs. They ham it up as the visiting “Albanians” as they try to win the favor of Fiordiligi and Dorabella with their fluttering stick-on mustaches, awkward masculine posturing and faux suicides.