River Oaks Theatre Special Presentation – Royal Opera House: The Marriage of Figaro

River Oaks Theatre presents a Special Presentation – Royal Opera House: The Marriage of Figaro. One Show Only! Screening Sunday, November 8, 2015 at 11:00am!

Revolution is in the air in David McVicar’s production of Mozart’s brilliant comic opera, The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro).

Librettist Lorenzo da Ponte adapted Pierre Beaumarchais’ controversial play Le Mariage de Figaro, which at the time was banned in Vienna due to its seditious content.

David McVicar’s acclaimed production sets the action in a French château in 1830 on the eve of revolution, amplifying the opera’s undercurrents of class tension. The entire household is drawn into the notoriously complex plot, which covers all shades of human emotion: from spirited playfulness (such as ‘Non più andrai’, when Figaro cheerfully sends Cherubino off to war), to deep despair (such as the Countess’s grief at her husband’s infidelity in ‘Dove sono i bei momenti’).

But affection and fidelity prevail in this most warm-hearted of operas: the Count’s plea for forgiveness in the final act, ‘Contessa, perdono,’ is an especially moving moment.