Miami performances are at the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami.

Fort Lauderdale performances are at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW 5th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.

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Le nozze di Figaro

Music Excerpts:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte

Cupid has his hands full getting this madcap wedding party to the church on time. The Count makes sexual advances to the maid, who is engaged to the valet (Figaro), who is pursued by an older woman, who is annoyed by a hormonal teen, who is obsessed with the boss’s wife… Any questions so far?

Mozart’s delicious comedy involving cross-dressing, sexy servants and sex-crazed masters was a howling success from the onset—and although the 18th century censors didn’t find its parody of the ruling class particularly amusing, we hope you’ll adore this evening of pure genius and joy.

“Tackling Le nozze di Figaro is taking on the challenge of directing the greatest comic opera ever written. Not only is it revolutionary for its sexual misadventures, political connotations, and satirical treatment of the ruling class…but revolutionary in defining the form that comic opera would take, not only in the 18th century, but for centuries to come.”

Stephen Lawless
Stage Director

Cast

Figaro
Andrew Oakden, Mar 21, 24 & 27 in Miami& Apr 4 in Broward
Keith Miller, Mar 22m, 25 & 28 in Miami; Apr 2 in Broward

Susanna
Lauren Skuce, Mar 21, 24 & 27 in Miami& Apr 4 in Broward
Valentina Farcas, Mar 22m, 25 & 28 in Miami; Apr 2 in Broward

Count
Phillip Addis, Mar 21, 24 & 27 in Miami& Apr 4 in Broward
Aaron St. Clair Nicholson, Mar 22m, 25 & 28 in Miami; Apr 2 in Broward

Countess
Kelly Kaduce, Mar 21, 24 & 27 in Miami& Apr 4 in Broward
Elizabeth Caballero, Mar 22m, 25 & 28 in Miami; Apr 2 in Broward

Bartolo
James Maddalena, All performances

Marcellina
Dorothy Byrne, All performances

Conductor
Stewart Robertson

Stage Director
Stephen Lawless

Associate Director
Nicola Bowie

Set Designer
Benoit Dugardyn

Costume Designer
Johann Stegmeir

Lighting Designer
Pat Collins

Choreographer
Nicola Bowie

Production
Florida Grand Opera/Glimmerglass Opera

Photograph of David Pittsinger as Count Almaviva courtesy Los Angeles Opera (2006 production). Photograph by Robert Millard.

Sung in Italian with English and Spanish projected titles made possible by TOTALBANK.

Synopsis

Act I. A palace bedroom.

Figaro and his fiancée Susanna eagerly survey their future living quarters. Figaro likes the close proximity to their masters, the Count and Countess Almaviva, but Susanna would prefer to be far away. The spinster Marcellina asks Dr. Bartolo for help in preventing the marriage; Figaro had borrowed money from her, promising marriage if he couldn’t repay. When Susanna arrives, she and Marcellina exchange insults. Cherubino, the hormonally charged young page of the court, enters; he hides when the Count enters the room. The Count tries to seduce Susanna but must hide when Basilio, the meddling music teacher, is heard outside. Basilio’s disparaging remarks draw out the Count. Upon discovering Cherubino hiding in the room with Susanna, the Count names him captain of his regiment in Seville.

Act II. The Countess’s bedroom.

The Countess longs for a renewal of her husband’s love. Cherubino serenades her to Susanna’s guitar accompaniment. Susanna goes off to find some women’s clothing into which to dress Cherubino as part of a plot Figaro and she have cooked up, when the Count comes knocking, and Cherubino hides in the closet. The Count is disturbed to find his wife’s door locked, and perturbed when she will not unlock her closet. He goes to summon help to force the door, taking the Countess with him and locking the outer door. Susanna returns and frees Cherubino, who escapes through the window, landing in the garden. When the Count and Countess return, it is Susanna who appears from the locked closet. Figaro rushes in to say the wedding ceremony is ready to begin. Antonio, the gardener, staggers in to complain about crushed flowers; Figaro takes the blame. Chaos reigns when Marcellina, Bartolo, and Basilio storm the room to demand Figaro’s payment in full.

Act III. A palace hall.

In a brief moment of introspection, the Count wonders what has become of his honor. Susanna agrees to meet the Count in the garden after dark, as instructed by the Countess. Figaro must pay or marry Marcellina, but he says he cannot marry because he doesn’t have his parents’ permission. Moreover, he has no parents to grant it. We discover that Marcellina is his mother…and Bartolo his father. Plans are made for a double wedding! After contemplating her husband’s infidelity, the Countess and Susanna write a seductive letter to the Count to further entrap him. Country girls arrive bringing flowers to the Countess; Figaro enters telling them it’s time for the party and the dance. During the dance the letter is slipped to the Count. He takes the bait.

Act IV. A palace garden.

Figaro believes that Susanna is indeed having a tryst with the Count. Figaro, Basilio, and Bartolo lie in wait for the Count and Susanna’s rendezvous. Disguised as each other, Susanna and the Countess arrive. Susanna, warned by Marcellina about Figaro, decides to get back at him for his suspicions. Enter Cherubino. He tries to kiss “Susanna”—but in the dark he kisses the just-arrived Count. The Count attempts to slap Cherubino&$8212;only to strike Figaro, who has stepped up for a closer look. The Count charges his “wife” with infidelity and refuses to forgive her. He is humiliated when it is revealed that he has been wooing his own wife, believing her to be Susanna. The Count begs forgiveness, and clemency is granted.

By Mark C. Graf
©2002, 2008 Florida Grand Opera; all rights reserved.