This chamber production of COSI FAN TUTTE was performed by a group of young opera students. This gave it a freshness that was most enjoyable.
The opera was reset to modern Sydney with the main characters living on the North Shore (the boys) or in the Eastern Suburbs (the girls). The surtitles were written to reflect these changes. The set was simple, but worked, and the accompanying pianist, Nathaniel Kong, was excellent.
Initially some of the singers, especially Katie Miller-Crispe who played Dorabella, seemed a bit nervous but that wore off as the show continued. The singers soon engaged the audience in the developing imbroglio about how easy it is for ill-intentioned people to manipulate young teenagers in love!
Hearing young singers at the start of their opera journey helped me to reconnect with a key point about this opera: it is about young lovers (teenagers) with all the hormonal storms and feelings of that time of life which appear as melodrama to those of us who are older!
The tenor playing Ferrando, Dave Smith, has a lovely voice which will develop well, in addition to the capacity to engage the audience by directly addressing them when required. Tristan Entwhistle played Guglielmo and carried it off beautifully with the melodramatic approach that works so well in this opera.
Joelene Griffith, who played Fiordiligi, has a beautiful voice with a big range, but the lower and upper registers still need a bit of smoothing in the transition. Katie Miller-Crispe portrayal of the role of Dorabella was a bit wooden at times but when she relaxed she was great.
The standout, however, in terms of stage skills for me was Samanta Lestavel who played Despina, a personal assistant, rather than the usual maid, in this production. Her stage presence was great, her comedic sense and timing wonderful. I was also impressed with Ian Warwick who played Don Alfonso. His acted and sang well, but with insufficient volume.
Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially the audience– and that is the point of COSI FAN TUTTE. I would recommend the show to all. It will remind you of what it is like to be a teenager in love!
COSI FAN TUTTE opened at the Independent Theatre, 269 Miller Street, North Sydney on Thursday 2nd July. The show’s final performance is tomorrow, Sunday 5th July at 2pm.
