"Cosi" in Hollywood
Cast of Cincinnati Opera's "Cosi fan tutte" arriving on the steps of Music Hall
Previews of coming attractions:
- "Cosi fan tutte" or "The School for Lovers"
- Starring Alexandra Deshorties (Fiordiligi), Shawn Mathey (Ferrando), Nathalie Paulin (Despina), Marianna Pizzolato (Dorabella),Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Guglielmo) and William Shimell (Don Alfonso).
- Produced by Cincinnati Opera
- Directed by Alain Gauthier
- Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Screenplay by Lorenzo de Ponte.
- Rated PG, Parental discretion advised (adult themes)
- Italian with English subtitles
"Cosi fan tutte," literally "Thus do they all," Mozart's 1790 comedy about love and infidelity, has been updated to 1930s Hollywood.
The action takes place on a movie lot where "Cosi" is being filmed. Don Alfonso, the cynical old bachelor who wagers two young men that their fiancees will betray them in their absence, is also the director. The singers are glamorous Hollywood stars.
Stage director for the production is Alain Gauthier, assistant stage director of Montreal Opera. (Gauthier directed Cincinnati Opera's wildly successful "L'Etoile" by Emmanuel Chabrier last season.)
It will be Gauthier's first "Cosi" and "a dream come true," he said, "because 'Cosi' was the first opera score I bought. I was a teenager, like 15 or 16."
Gauthier has put his own stamp on the opera's "Cosi," so much so that it can almost be called a new production.
"The set is coming from Seattle, but this new concept is like a new production, the only one of the season. It's a very simple set, a round platform with two big doors that we can move to make different spaces. It has a background of a beautiful lake, a city and a beautiful sky.
"When they created it, it was a time-travel concept, with each scene moving forward in time. The last scene, the wedding scene, was in the 20th century. I
looked at the photos and the last one in the 20th century was so elegant and so beautiful. It reminded me of the old movies, with those tuxedos and elegant evening gowns. I thought it would be interesting to do a 'Cosi' like doing a movie."
The opera asked him about costumes. "We have different options, so would you like a certain period, or would you like to go with the time-travel
concept?"
Gauthier decided to try to sell his Hollywood idea.
"I worked two weeks on the document to explain my idea about Hollywood movies. I had such a great reaction from everybody here that we started to
work on it."
A former actor who switched to directing "when I realized that the rehearsing process was more interesting for me than being onstage," Gauthier took his
cue from the 1930-40 era genre called "screwball comedies."
"Most of the plot of those movies was a man and a woman that are not in
love at the beginning, but fall in love at the end. You have it in 'It Happened One Night,' 'The Thin Man' and 'Bringing Up Baby.' It's exactly what's happening in 'Cosi'":
Ferrando and Guglielmo accept Don Alfonso's wager and pretend to have been called into military service. They bid the tearful Dorabella and Fiordiligi
farewell. The maid Despina, (in cahoots with Alfonso) advises them to take new lovers, as the men surely would under the circumstances. They express
shock and indignation. Their fiances return disguised and start to woo them, but are rebuffed. The men "take poison" and are revived by a doctor (Despina
in disguise). Now softened, the girls succumb to them and a notary (Despina again) is summoned to perform a double wedding ceremony. Ferrando and
Guglielmo return undisguised and the plot is revealed. Don Alfonso exults, the girls confess and ask forgiveness, and all six turn to the audience to advise
looking "on the bright side" and making reason their guide.
"'Cosi" is actually serio-comic and ends unresolved. "Nobody is married, nobody is holding anyone's hand. We don't know," said Gauthier. "We see the loss of innocence for all of them, even the men. They all realize that it is not that easy to be in love and stay in love." However, Alfonso is "less a villain than in certain productions. We keep it on the light side. It has a happy ending that is still Hollywood-related."
The characters' dress reflects "what's happening in the opera. The ladies start in act one as innocent young girls, with very light colors and shorter skirts and hats, then become darker, almost mourning the departure of their boyfriends."
In act two, "we go for cleavage, the hair goes down and we add jewels and higher heels."
The men are very elegant, with flowing, Rudolph Valentino looks in their disguises.
Gauthier gave the cast six old movies on DVD and a book of movie posters to the women "to work physically with poses.
"I asked them to learn those poses, but to keep the feeling alive so it's not too artificial. I want people to be touched, especially in act two. Act one is a bit more comedy, so it's OK to go a little too far with that.
"We have spots onstage all the time to remind us that we're in a shooting." Alfonso as director carries a megaphone and keeps a bottle of Scotch in his little office downstage.
There are some surprises up Gauthier's sleeve, he said. "When Despina is in disguise, we tried to reach some characters very typical of Hollywood
comedies. I can't tell you who they are, but the first is more general and the second is very precise. I'm sure everyone will have a big laugh when Despina
enters as the notary."
For a special treat, visit www.cincinnatiopera.org and view the opera's hilarious web video of the "œcelebrity" "Cosi" cast arriving in Cincinnati.
Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" will be performed at 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday at Music Hall. Stefan Lano conducts. The Cincinnati Symphony performs for all
Cincinnati Opera performances. Tickets are $27-$144 at (513) 241-2742 and online at www.cincinnatiopera.org.
(first published in The Cincinnati Post June 28, 2007)