The Marriage of Figaro, Merola Opera Program, August 1 2013

 We saw an almost totally new crop of current Merolini ... Alisa Jordheim was a repeat performer from The Rape of Lucretia,  and Rhys Talbot, Matthew Newlin, and Thomas Richards repeated from the Summer Concert, but everyone else was new to the folks who didn’t attend any of the donor events.

The sets were simple but effective, certainly not some director’s off-the-wall “concept” (see the current Bayreuth Ring for an example). The most prominent feature was five large white cupboards, eight feet tall by five feet wide, with doors in front and back and crown moulding on top. They served as doors into the current room and as the closet in which Cherubino hides when the Count calls on the Countess. In the final act, the double doors of the center cupboard were held open to reveal inky-black night, with several light bulbs (stars) hung on strings. There were 18th-century tables and chairs, and the singers were dressed in 18th-century attire. Thank goodness for a director who chooses to serve the music rather than his own inflated ego.

Our cast:
Figaro: John Arnold
Susanna: Maria Valdez
Dr. Bartolo: Thomas Richards
Marcellina: Daryl Freeman
Cherubino: Rihab Chaieb
Count Almaviva: Joseph Lattanzi
Don Basilio: Casey Finnigan
Countess Almaviva: Jacqueline Piccolino
Antonio: Rhys Lloyd Talbot
Don Curzio: Matthew Newlin
Barbarina: Alisa Jordheim
Conductor: Xian Zhang
Director: Robin Guarino

While we have yet to see a Merolino/a who can rank with the Leah Crocetto of a few summers ago, there was some delightful singing, most notably from Thomas Richards as Dr. Bartolo, Joseph Lattanzi as Count Almaviva, and Jacqueline Piccolino as his Countess. The orchestra played wonderfully for conductor Xian Zhang. But my overall perspective was flawed by having to sit underneath the balcony of the Everett Middle School auditorium, where Merola is performing this summer instead of in the traditional Herbst Theater. The sound in row P, while spacious, lacked clarity. The sound underneath an overhang is generally poor, and this time was no exception. Perhaps for that reason more than any other, my overall experience failed to reach the beta level.




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