Marriage of Figaro is a match made in heaven
Opera lovers are back in their seats at Holland Park, if not quite in the same way as before.
It’s quite a shock to enter the auditorium and discover all the regular seats have been removed and replaced by a variety of theatre prop chairs.
A very innovative solution to the Covid dilemma. If not necessarily a very comfortable one.
But who cares? What joy to once more have live music led by a conductor of George Jackson’s talent. And rising star Nardus Williams is simply superb.
The Marriage of Figaro was the first collaboration between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Da Ponte – a match made in opera heaven.
They went on to give us Don Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tutte.
It is perhaps the most classic comic opera ever written, with more cases of mistaken identity and surprise paternity than any reality TV show today.
This comic element is surprising, given how political the original play by Beaumarchais was.
It was banned as subversive, revolutionary, propaganda.
You may wonder why Figaro, the likeable rogue at the centre of the piece is a Barber? The answer may lie in the fact that in pre-revolutionary French slang two phrases to “faire la barbe” and to “faire la figue” essentially meant ‘taking the Mickey.’
The plot tells how two servants in love, Susanna, and Figaro, outwit their licentious aristocratic master, the Count, and foil his attempts to seduce Susanna.
Da Ponte dodged the censors by cleverly taking Figaro’s highly political speech in the play and turning it instead into an aria ranting not so much against aristocrats as women.
Gender equality was clearly not big in the 18th century Vienna.
This and the comedy got them through the censors – Mozart and Da Ponte’s work was a huge success.
Even that ultimate symbol of the Ancien Regime, Marie Antoinette, would herself become obsessed with Figaro. She staged performances of the play in her private theatre.
Here, Figaro is played by Ross Ramgobin, although it is his fiancée Susanna who is a more convincing trickster.
She is portrayed by Elizabeth Karani, who captures the comedy of her role well, and has a clear, strong voice.
Her seducer, the Count, is an effervescent Julien Van Mellaerts who romps around the stage being endlessly outmanoeuvred by his servants, the most annoying of whom is his page boy Cherunbino.
This ‘trouser role’ is captured by the hugely talented Samantha Price, who benefits from having so much strong music.
Unquestionably though, the show-stealer is rising star Nardus Williams who sings the Countess.
The power of her voice is complimented by her great stage presence, and she is carving out a strong following in London.
Ultimately the sexism of Mozart and Da Ponte’s work is balanced by the Countess’s triumph over the infidelity of her husband.
A touching moment Nardus delivers well. The design is by the very talented Takis.
His aesthetic is a highly-coloured tribute to the opera buffa element, with the fabulous costumes offset by a series of coloured, candyfloss, wigs.
Marie Antoinette would approve. By contrast, the set is quite sparse, and the stage is carved in two, with the orchestra embedded in the middle.
Under the brilliant baton of conductor George Jackson, they give an outstanding, powerful, musical performance.
The flip side of this is that the weaker voices sometimes struggle to be heard, especially when the acoustics in the adapted auditorium are challenging.
All in all, a lovely summer’s evening to be remembered for Nardus Williams.
Go to https://operahollandpark.com/
Main pic: Nardus Williams in a Marriage of Figaro