The Marriage of Figaro

Opera for a new generation

By Grace Jackson · Wednesday, March 3, 2010

More than 30 years ago, I saw my first opera. It was a story of love between a poet and a seamstress. Although I couldn’t understand Italian, beneath their wigs and heavy costumes I still recognized the universal language of love and loss and desperation.

To this day, I remember my swelling feelings of emotion as I sat in the darkness, completely mesmerized. Sadly, too many miss this experience, deterred by the stuffy reputation of heavy brocade and too much makeup.

WWU Music Department’s current production of The Marriage of Figaro, the Department’s first Mozart production in seven years, takes a modern and minimalistic twist that contradicts that stuffy reputation.

The setting is the year 2004 in the state of Washington, and the “red state” versus “blue state” political conflict is the backdrop. Those new to opera may welcome the fact that the libretto (the words of an opera) is sung in English, and the wardrobe is contemporary to avoid distraction.

“Sometimes period costumes put up a barrier between the audience and performers, and we’d like to open the world of opera to a new generation,” said David Meyer, WWU Opera Studio director. The staging is simple: An armchair draped with a white cloth and one wooden chair act as sentinel for all four acts. 

Originally set in Seville, Spain, the opera follows a chaotic day in which an aristocrat contrives to satiate his sexual whims by exploiting his power over his staff. But the balance of power in the household tilts against him, in a convoluted plot that would play well on a prime time sitcom.

In this production, the first act opens with Figaro, cast here as a security guard, trying to assemble a nuptial bed for his betrothed, Susanna. Figaro learns that his boss, the Count, has his eye on Susanna, a maid to his wife, the Countess. The Count is bored with his marriage to the Countess and finds excuses to delay the wedding of Figaro and Susanna. Figaro promises to avenge Susanna’s love. 

Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess conspire to embarrass the Count. Through a trap designed by Figaro and Susanna, the Count’s scheming is exposed. The Count begs for the Countess’s forgiveness, and his love for her is restored. In the end, Figaro marries Susanna.

Although The Marriage of Figaro premiered in 1786, the follies of love and underlying themes of gender and class struggle still resonate today. The lower class usurps the upper class, women play tricks on men, and a young servant proves to be smarter than his boss: This was potent stuff for the 1700s and politically dangerous.

The play was at first banned in Vienna because of its anti-establishment nature and satire of the aristocracy; some historians say the play was a precursor to the French Revolution. Nonetheless, the opera became one of Mozart’s most successful works.

“Mozart ennobled the earthiest characters through his music and through art,” Meyer said. “He placed the sexes equally on the playing field, a revolutionary idea at the time, but equally apropos now. With The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart constructed a new type of music that was psychologically insightful and emotionally charged.”