One of them even pretends to masturbate using a pillow.
This action (out of character but good for cheap and reliable laughs) continues for much, if not all, of the first act. No sooner are the Portland dudes onstage than they start thrusting their crotches at the women. But then the production descends into that embarrassing amateurishness which so often characterizes the Seattle Opera.
But OK, I understand the limitations of this piece. And instead of becoming Albanians the two young men are transformed into 90s-era grunge dudes from Portland. The women live in Seattle, people take lots of selfies and drink Starbucks, there are references to Uncle Ike’s pot shop. And, besides, as the victorious Don Alfonso sings in the finale “Così fan tutte!”, which in Italian means literally “Thus do all” although it’s normally translated as “Women are like that.” In view of the misogyny and rampant male sexual anxiety which runs through this opera I think the translation “Bitches be hos” would also fit.Īnd thus it is with this production, which takes the added step of moving the action to the Pacific Northwest. The sisters can’t resist their manly charms. Over the course of the opera they both score. They are, of course, Ferrando and Guglielmo in disguise, and soon they are laying siege to each other’s beloved. Once they're gone, two friends of Don Alfonso’s show up from Albania. Soon the lads are called off to their army unit (it’s just a ruse of Don Alfonso’s) and bid farewell to their sweethearts. The only condition to the wager is that the young men must do anything he tells them. Two young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo, are convinced of the virtuousness of their fiancées, respectively, the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi, but the cynical Don Alfonso laughs at their naiveté and wagers that he can prove that the women are fickle and faithless.
0 kommentar(er)
