Love-struck women, bored men, hormones and money are the driving forces behind Greater Worcester Opera’s recent production of Cosi Fan Tutte or How I met Your Mother.
The ensemble, which formed 11 years ago, is attempting to gain a larger local following by flipping traditional opera on its head and performing it in English. In doing so, GWO has taken an opera written by Mozart in 1790 and combined it with elements of the hit CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother.
It’s hard to get adults to forget their preconceived notions about opera, “the braids and the horns, the fat lady singing,” said company director and cast member, Elaine Crane.
A graduate of the Boston Conservatory, Crane called opera “musical theater on steroids.” By translating its scripts and eliminating the language barrier, GWO makes opera a much easier pill to swallow for first-time opera-goers like myself.
This modern take on Mozart centers on a bet made by Don Alfonso. He bets his two friends, Ferrando and Gugliemo, that their female lovers, sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, will not stay loyal if tempted by other men because “women are false, fickle and easily swayed in their loyalties.”
With the help of the feisty maid, Despina, Alfonso spins a contrived web of lies to convince the sisters their lovers have gone off to war and that they should befriend, and flirt with, two newly arrived, dashingly handsome, foreign suitors ~ Ferrando and Gugliemo in disguise.
Two acts later, the sisters have forsaken their original lovers and a fake marriage ceremony is under way. Right before you think the mismatched lovers will sign papers to buy homes together, Alfonso gives up the ruse and all is set straight again.
In addition to the translation, the script has been shortened and stripped of all recitatives, a fundamental part of traditional opera where actors sing-talk at a slower rhythm to convey central plot information. Instead, some actors spoke their lines, acting like a particle cleanser between musical pieces and keeping the audience refreshed.
I couldn’t help but pay closeattention to young Alfonso, played on Friday by Michael Gondek, and Despina, played Friday by Jennifer Conant. Not only were these characters the main source of humor and cunning, but the way in which Gondek and Conant translated their roles for a 21st century audience reminded you that the outrageous ignorance of sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella and the seemingly neverending arrogance of Ferrando and Gugliemo were fictional.
While it was entertaining for the audience to be privy to the wink and nod of the men’s bet, I’m not sure I would be as sold if I hadn’t begun to think of Alfonso as Barney Stinson halfway through the first act.
Of course, music played a key role in setting the mood. Before the actors appeared on stage in Act I, the ensemble played a few minutes of crisp, sharp music, reminiscent of the soundtrack of the semi-recent Jane Austen novel-turned-movie starring Keira Knightley.
While fun, if the title hadn’t referenced a contemporary TV show and the script weren’t in English, the GWO would have had trouble brining in such a diverse audience. With these drastic alterations,there were families with small children in attendance, 20-somethings and experienced opera-goers.
The GWO’s vocal talent eclipsed the small venue, yet left the audience, at least this member, singing every word on the way home.
By Emily Gowdey-Backus