Opera season starts with a winner

If the opening performance of Mozart's "Così Fan Tutte" is an indicator of the rest of this opera season, the IU community certainly has many good things to expect.\nThe opera was about three hours and 15 minutes long, but the time flew by because the production was in constant motion. The music was characteristically light, witty Mozart (with perhaps a little more fire than anticipated), but it was handled with such mastery that its presence seemed natural to the stage action and familiar to the listener.\nMuch credit goes to conductor Andrew Altenbach, who is the first student in IU history to direct an opera production (because of the sudden passing of guest conductor Randall Behr). He constantly kept the music in motion. Not a single moment seemed to drag and he brought out the full potential of some of Mozart's most beautiful music.\nThe story of the opera, derided by many as a misogynistic farce, is actually a witty and all-too-true tale of human fickleness in love. A jaded, old Alfonso seeks to prove women's fickleness to his young friends Ferrando and Guglielmo. He disguises them as foreigners and has them seduce their respective fiancées, the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella. The women fall for the ruse, and the men reveal their disguises, to the embarrassment of their lovers and the delight of Alfonso.\nStage director Vince Liotta made the characters extremely realistic and very believable, rather than caricatures of emotional stereotypes. The singers all deserve credit for executing Liotta's interpretation into concrete form. The facial expressions, the motions and the intonation all made the stagework seem as much intense drama as musical skill. \nAngela Mannino deserves particular credit in her role as Despina, the sisters' maid. Not only did she portray a sarcastic and fun-loving character, but also the various ridiculous disguises as doctor and notary that she assumed. The roles of the four lovers required much endurance, and they succeeded admirably at giving both convincing and musically-perfected performances in spite of this.\nAnother noteworthy feature of this opera is that it is the first Mozart opera at IU (in the last three seasons, at least) to be performed in the original language -- in this case, Italian. This greatly enhanced the opera's character, and augmented the music, which was written to accompany the libretto in this exact version. Also, keeping the original libretto removed all the incongruities of singing an opera in translation (especially between languages with timbres as different as English and Italian). The singers did stumble a bit ("credere" -- "to believe" -- was used once where "chiedere" -- "to ask" -- should have been sung), but overall the singers seemed more comfortable in the original language than in their own.\nThe scenery for this opera is best described as timeless. The classical lines and columns of Mozart's day predominated, but really did not date the setting or attempt to move the story into the present. Period costumes were used as well, which made the audience appreciate the opera as a product of Mozart, rather than wondering at the experimentation of the designer.\nIn all, "Così Fan Tutte" works wonders with a cast of six soloists and a small chorus, not to mention a chamber orchestra. The enormous effect which Mozart gives through these seemingly inadequate tools cannot be fully appreciated without realizing the effort the members of this production exerted to make it successful. "Così Fan Tutte" is one of the better operas to come to the Musical Arts Center stage in the last three seasons, and is definitely recommended for an audience seeking a light, yet beautiful performance.\n"Così Fan Tutte" performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the MAC. Tickets range from $15 to $35 for general audiences and $10 to $20 for students. For tickets and more information, call 855-7433.