Word: almaviva
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...awarding the Levi prize to deLima, Wilson listed her accomplishments in musical theater, including playing Countess Almaviva in Dunster House's "The Marriage of Figaro" and holding the title role in the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Players' production of "Patience...
Certainly the plot of "The Marriage of Figaro" requires a tongue-in-cheek approach; on paper, it is the kind of convoluted intrigue that gives opera a bad name. Figaro (Brian Saccente), valet to the Count Almaviva (Josh Benaim), is about to marry his sweetheart Susanna (Sarita Cannon), but the Count also has his eye on her. Although the Count has abolished the droit du seigneur, which traditionally allowed the lord to deflower any bride on her wedding night, he is tempted to revive it in Susanna's case. Though a philanderer, the Count is fanatically suspicious of his innocent...
...were guillotined during the Revolution. Another ghost is Beaumarchais himself, who has been in love with the queen for 200 spectral years. But she yearns only to live again. To amuse the ghosts and court the queen, Beaumarchais stages a Figaro opera-within-the-opera. The intrigues of the Almaviva household have changed little since Mozart's time. Both the count and countess have illegitimate children. Figaro is still the wily meddler, but his affection for practical Susanna remains firm...
Leading the cast, made up of various professionals from the Boston area as well as some Harvard students, is Rod Nelman as Figaro, a servant to the Count and Countess Almaviva. Ilana Davidson stars as his future bride, Susanna. In roles commonly given to 50-ish opera stars, it is refreshing to see two young leading singers play the parts of lovers who just can't quite seem to get married, no matter how hard they...
...Andrew Porter (I mean, would Susanna really call Figaro a "blockhead" in the eighteenth century?), it is Mozart in the end who gives us the most aural pleasure. Who can resist the remarkable closing scene of The Marriage of Figaro, in which Figaro and Susanna, the Count and Countess Almaviva, Marcellina and Bartolo and all other cast members join together in praise of love and happiness? It's a scene not to be missed, confirming Mozart's brilliance in choral writing and the Lowell House Opera's commendability in bringing...