The Idaho Falls Opera Theatre will perform “The Marriage of Figaro” next week at the Frontier Center for the Performing Arts in Idaho Falls.
Servants Figaro and Susanna are soon to be married and while looking at a room the Count Almaviva gifted to them, Susanna reveals to Figaro the Count’s intent to seduce her. Figaro is upset by this information and enlists the help of Susanna, Cherubino the page boy, and the Countess Almaviva to teach the Count a lesson.
“It’s kind of like any romantic comedy that you see,” says director Dana Atkins, “all this misunderstanding happens because people can’t just come out and say what they’re feeling or what they’re thinking.”
The opera is a collaboration between the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Italian librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was written in 1786 and is the second part of a story based on the 1784 stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais called “One Day of Madness.”
“Acting has always been a wonderful sort of outlet and I think it’s one of the reasons why people love the arts is it allows you to sort of connect with and express with emotions and feelings that maybe sometimes are not always socially appropriate,” says David Olsen, a faculty member at BYU-Idaho who is playing the part of Count Almaviva.
Olsen says what has helped him the most with this role is seeing parts of himself in the character. Olsen has often played villains just because of his low voice. He says he doesn’t try to act like the count in real life but recognizes certain parts of himself in the character. This has allowed the character to be more authentic.
While both operas and musicals include singing, they are different. Atkins says in “The Marriage of Figaro,” each act is about 30 to 40 minutes while in musical theatre a scene is no longer than 10 minutes.
“The thing that sets opera apart is that it doesn’t stop, it’s just continuous,” Atkins says.
One challenging aspect of this opera for the singers/actors is how chaotic it is. Scene changes can become pretty muddy, Atkins says. To keep the opera moving and not add time, the ensemble cast changes the scenery, which has helped everything run smoothly.
“The Marriage of Figaro” premieres April 12 at 7 p.m. in the Frontier Center for Performing Arts and will have shows on April 13 and 15 as well.
Buy tickets at IFOT.org/tickets