Read what our audiences have to say about Cosė fan tutti
Review by Jane-May Lu
We really enjoyed the opening night of Cosi Fan Tutte. It was nice to hear some of my old friends from RCM JD in the orchestra. The music was therefore, of course, excellent. Special mentions should go to Despina and the Don for their singing - very well sung indeed.
The only thing I would say, is that because this is Mozart, the lines do tend to be repeated a couple of times, so you do get that feeling of deja vu throughout the opera. But who doesn't love hearing them again and again?
Review by Gregory Christy
I have just attended the opening night of 'Cosi fan Tutte' and what a wonderful production! Superb singing and orchestration; lovely sets with a clever use of the ever-changing filmed backdrop. Well done to all those concerned!
Review by John Rogers
I was somewhat apprehensive about attending this production of one of my top favourite operas having read the critics following the first night, and having a special place in my affections for Matthew Warhaus' production of a few years back in this house, but I need not have had any worries! Either the critics didn't see the same production that I saw, or things and voices had "bedded in", by this, the 7th performance. Each of the six principals were superb with Susan Gritton being in glorious voice and delivering "Like a mountain" with a ferocity of a lion! And the other singers sang gloriously too. I particularly enjoyed Fiona Murphey's Dorabella and Liam Bonner as Guglielmo and Thomas Glenn as Ferrando sang and acted with aplomb! It was particularly nice not to have t he "Albanians" dressed as outrageously as in some productions - after all the sisters do eventually "fall" for these guys. The orchestra played well under Stefan Klingele, who clearly knows this score.
Only two beefs. The first was the back-projected back-grounds, which for me, worked well, apart from the first and the last - it would have been so much better to have had real people on stage (the chorus) occupying the tables in the cafe, and the final one - a video of the conductor with the orchestra playing the finale, just didn't work, and was irritating in that the on-video orchestra was just a tad behind the beat! The other beef was that the (very good) modern translation didn't quite sit right with the traditional 18th century setting and costumes. However, all-in-all, a great night in the opera house!
Review by Brian E Cook
What a good evening on Sat 13th. my 17th Cosi and I still laughed! The new translation is excellent and the production was wonderfully un fussy and trusted both the text and the music.The clever use of filmed background was the best example that I have seen so far of the marriage of traditional theatrical artifice and modern technology.All the singers were well on form and I particularly appreciated the Despina (beautifully sung)being portrayed as a Neopolitan peasant rather than as an "arch" Vienese soubrette, which has come to be the usual portrayal in many productions.Yes, the ending is complex and unsatisfacory, but this is a fairy tale and we can suspend disbelief and moral judgement and enjoy the music.
One tiny carp; Why, with so much clever technology about the place, were we treated to a plain white gauze drop to cover the scene changes? Most of the flying in and out could be seen through the gauze anyway, so why not do it in view, or project some more pre filming?
Review by Robin I Morgan
The Iranian director, Abbas Kiarostami was unable to get a visa in time to be able to direct this reprise of his Aix-en-Provence production of Cosė, so had to make do with email. One can't help feeling that the authorities have made themselves look stupid over their failure to facilitate a visa for him. Kiarostami is one of the world's leading "arty" film directors and a Palme d'or winner. I have seen a couple of his films and found them most engrossing despite, or possible because of, their minimalist story lines. Given the sorts of people who do manage to get into this country, keeping out serious intellectuals who have a real contribution to make to the country's cultural life, is just plain daft.
This production was very straightforward and unobjectionable (despite some strange and untoward noises off during scene changes). The story is set in eighteenth century Naples, so this was set more or less there, and costumed appropriately. The stage was more or less bare within an obviously Italianate building overlooking the sea, but probably not Naples bay. The drama was then carried on by the principals having to sing and act their socks off rather than rely on any weird ideas from the director to help them. The main directorial addition was a filmed backdrop, mainly of sea, but in the last act, the orchestra. It was only this picture which some grated as its purpose was not evident.
The cast, led by Susan Gritton as Fiordigligi were all in fine voice and well matched, save perhaps a slightly underwhelming Despina. Steven Page's Don Alfonso kept the plot moving, and the way the girls eventually change their affections was convincingly played in a work which requires serious suspension of disbelief.
The problem with Cosė is that when the men, who have been wooing each other's girl to prove you cant trust women, reveal the plot, the girls don't throw their lovers' lack of trust back in their faces. In one ENO production, they did indeed flounce out at the end, but that's not written into the script. Nevertheless a jolly and undemanding evening.
