The laughs are plenty in The Marriage of Figaro

The reviews are in and it’s official, The Marriage of Figaro is laugh out loud funny!  See what the reviewers are saying below, and if you don’t think the reviewers got it right leave your own review in the comments section.

Robert Trussell of The Kansas City Star hails “Indeed, musically this production is a glorious affair. The Lyric has assembled some amazing singers who maximize the effect of Mozart’s intoxicating melodies.” Read the entire review here.

Paul Horsley of The Independent raves “The Lyric Opera’s new production of The Marriage of Figaro is well-sung, confidently acted and executed with a deft comic touch.”  Read the entire review here. (You may need to scroll down to find the review.)

Sarah Tyrrell of kcmetropolis.org remarks “Van Kooten’s cavatina, “Porgi amore,” was stunning, handled with poise and consummate diction. She seemed suprised by the audience’s boisterous ovation, but indeed Van Kooten deserved that enthusiasm and more.” Read the entire review here.

Do you agree, think the reviewers left something out, or want to share your opinion?  Write your review of The Marriage of Figaro in the comments section.

Sneak peek from The Marriage of Figaro rehearsals

Early last week the  rehearsals of The Marriage of Figaro were in full swing and we were able to get some footage from a couple of different nights. Altough the footage only covers a small part of the show, it does showcase some of the comedy that you should expect to see. If you didn’t make it to opening night on Saturday don’t worry, you can still get a look at the show.  Hopefully the two clips below will tide you over  until you make it to one of the remaining performances.

This clip is from the scene in which Cherubino is dressed up by Susanna (Sari Gruber) and Rosina Almaviva (Katie Van Kooten) so he can remain and aid Figaro in his plan to embarrass their boss, Almaviva. Enjoy!

The clip below is of the aria Voi che sapete che cosa è amor (“You ladies who know what love is, is it what I’m suffering from?”) which is sung by Cherubino, played by Brenda Patterson.

Memories of the Lyric Theatre

With the last Lyric Opera of Kansas City production in the Lyric Theatre just days away from opening, we wanted to share stories we have been compiling about its 41 years hosting the Lyric Opera.  Allison May, Lyric Opera intern, managed to sit down with some of our staff members who have called this theatre home for a number of years and get some stories about the building.  These stories were recently featured on the KCUR 98.3 FM Arts Blog – Sound and Glass.

From Evan Luskin
Evan Luskin began working for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in 1986 as the Managing Director and in 1998 he became the General Director for the Company. Throughout the years, Luskin has seen many changes to both the building and the Company. Luskin oversaw two renovations to the Lyric Theatre in 1991 and 1998. Luskin recalled that during this time, “I was looking around and worrying about all of these little things that needed fixing. But a little girl came into the front lobby for a performance and said, ‘Mommy, I didn’t know it’d be so pretty here.’ And she was right; it really is a beautiful building.”
Click to read the full interview

From Ward Holmquist
The Artistic Director for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City since 1998, Ward Holmquist, admits he didn’t know much about the Lyric Opera of Kansas City when he was first considered for the job in 1997.  But he said that the Lyric Theatre was one of the most important aspects of the job for him.  “I couldn’t help but be impressed that a regional opera owned its own theatre.  That was really remarkable and very interesting to me. It was one of the first things that piqued my interest.  I assumed, correctly, that the city had a great love and support of opera.”  Interestingly, The Marriage of Figaro was the first opera that Holmquist conducted at the Lyric Theatre.
Click to read the full interview

From R. Keith Brumley
R. Keith Brumley, Director of Design and Technical Production, began working for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in 1984.  Brumley recalled that one of his favorite funny memories occurred when he was watching a production early in his career.
Click to read the full interview

The Marriage of Figaro Media Coverage

The Lyric Theatre houses its last opera with The Marriage of Figaro

The Lyric Opera is in final preparations for our last opera in the Lyric Theatre.  Amazing things have been done over the 41 years in this theatre, and if a brand new state-of-the-art theatre wasn’t waiting for us next fall, we are sure we could have remained in the Lyric for another 40 years.  Read all about how this production of The Marriage of Figaro will be the Company’s way of saying goodbye to the Lyric Theatre.

Click the links below to read all of the media coverage of The Marriage of Figaro:

The Kansas City Star:
Lyric Opera prepares its final production in its ‘womb’

Opera singer Katie Van Kooten’s career hits a high note

24 Hours of Giving: Evening into Night (7:00 p.m. time slot)

24 Hours of Volunteering in Kansas City (slide show, images 86-90)

10 Questions with Cherubino

Brenda Patterson wears the pants as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro

Don’t be confused when you see Cherubino on stage in The Marriage of Figaro. The role is of a man being played by a woman and Brenda Patterson, our Cherubino, is well versed in portraying this man on stage.

Read about Mrs. Patterson’s ties to Germany, why you won’t becoming Facebook friends with her any time soon, and why she hopes this won’t be her last portrayal of Cherubino.

1.  How did your initial interest in the art form of opera begin?
Brenda: I grew up going to the opera. When I was seven I attended a performance of my then-favorite, The Magic Flute, and I had a vision of myself singing one of the Three Ladies, up on the stage, singing back to my child-self sitting in the audience. Thus began an obsession, and a life-path.  I started taking voice lessons when I was nine, and I eventually became a singer, obviously – but I never got a chance to sing in The Magic Flute until 2005, in Hamburg. And guess who I met at the first rehearsal? My wife-to-be, singing the First Lady to my Second.

2.  Where did you grow up?
Brenda: My father, “the Colonel,” was in the Air Force, so we lived many places. Mostly in the D.C. area, as he worked at the Pentagon, but also in Germany.

3.  What is an average day like for you? Do you have a set routine?
Brenda: I basically live an existence from another time. Although I do use email, I don’t have a TV, a cell phone, nor do I belong to any social networking sites.  I treasure my peace and quiet and spend a lot of time writing letters (yes, on paper!), reading, cooking, listening to the radio, going on walks and exploring the places my gigs take me.

4.  What is your favorite opera to watch/experience?
Brenda: The Marriage of Figaro is like the Gospel to me. I can find every life-lesson in it, and have loved it since childhood. In fact, I learned “Voi che sapete che cosa è amor” (“You ladies who know what love is, is it what I’m suffering from?”) for the first time when I was 10 years old, so Cherubino has been with me a long time. And it still makes me laugh.  Other than The Marriage of Figaro, my favorites include some standards and some odder ones: La bohème; Orfeo (Gluck); Dialogues of the Carmelites; Jenufa; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Lulu.

5.  Have you performed your role in The Marriage of Figaro before? If so, do you have any interesting anecdotes you can share about the experience?
Brenda: I’ve sung Cherubino many times – I think in five or six different productions, if you count student ones. So I have my share of hilarious anecdotes and can’t really pick just one (mostly you had to be there).

But my favorite Cherubino anecdote might come from the original playwright, Beaumarchais, who says in his forward that Cherubino must be played by a woman, because a man couldn’t possibly understand the complexity of the character. I love that!

6.  What language(s) do you speak fluently?
Brenda: The usual singer languages – although I am actually very fluent in German, having gone to school there as a child for three years and now having lived in Hamburg and Berlin for almost six years.

7.  Have you worked with anyone in this cast before?
Brenda: Sari Gruber and I have known each other for a long time – I met her at Tanglewood when I was 19. I’ve always been a fan!

8.  What opera role have you not performed, but would like to perform the most in your career?
Brenda: My favorite role I have already performed: Gluck’s Orfeo. Other than that, I would love to sing Octavian (Rosenkavalier) one of these days, and also Massenet’s Chérubin, which I have only sung in a student production. Chérubin is like the third volume of the Beaumarchais Trilogy: Cherubino all grown up.

I also love singing contemporary/new music, believe it or not.  So maybe the role I will love most hasn’t been written yet.

9.  If you bumped into me at a coffee shop and learned that I had never been to an opera before, what would you say to entice me to give it a try?
Brenda: I would…tell you there’s no more romantic thing to do on a date.  If you can’t seduce your date listening to “Sull’ aria,” they’re not worth it.

10. What facts about you would our audiences be surprised to learn?
Brenda: Probably that I was a Medieval Studies Major at Barnard.  People don’t expect singers to know much about things, but we do.

At Ease with Opera Presentations

W. A. Mozart wrote this classic opera

If you already have your tickets and are not too familiar with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro or you want to learn a little more about this opera before you decide to attend, the Lyric Opera Guild presents At Ease with Opera presentations leading up to every Lyric Opera production.  The remaining At Ease presentations for The Marriage of Figaro are in the next two weeks, so now is your chance to learn a little more about this classic comic opera, that may be a little more modern (but you didn’t hear that here).

Upcoming At Ease with Opera Presentations:

Mozart From A to Z – March 28, 2011
Join us on Monday, March 28 at 7:00 p.m. at the Kauffman Foundation (4801 Rockhill Rd, Kansas City, MO). Bob Wise will be back on the podium to discuss “Mozart From A to Z,” containing lots of music and biographical material about the brilliant composer of The Marriage of Figaro which you might not have known.

Who Was Figaro? – April 4, 2011
Join us on Monday, April 4 at 7:00 p.m. at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library (4801 Main St., Kansas City, MO). Morton Creditor, a frequent At Ease with Opera program presenter, will discuss “Who Was Figaro?,” and exploration of the writer, Beaumarchais, who created this intriguing character who appears in several different opera, including the Mozart classic. Paired with him this evening will be Don Dagenais, who will give a preview of The Marriage of Figaro.

10 Questions with Count Almaviva

Troy Cook, Count Almaviva

We had a chance to speak with Troy Cook, Count Almaviva in our  upcoming production of The Marriage of Figaro.  He talks about his small town roots, early enjoyment of singing, and why he may be getting spring fever while performing in Kansas City.

1.  How did your initial interest in the art form of opera begin?
Troy: I loved to sing as a kid, as well as play the piano, which I did by ear.  I ended up getting into the Governor’s School for the Arts [in Kentucky] and it was there that I sang my first classical piece, which was an aria from Don Pasquale.  I thought it was really cool to sing in a foreign language so when you have a love of music with a fascination with language together, opera is the obvious result.

2.  Where did you grow up?
Troy: I grew up in Eminence, Kentucky.  It is a very small town of 2,000 people and I went from K-12 in one building at Eminence Independent Schools.  I had only 33 students in my graduating class.

3.  What is an average day like for you? Do you have a set routine?
Troy: First thing, coffee!  Then some breakfast and weather on the tv.  Then I might go to the gym, do some practicing or head off to rehearsal.  I do have some TV shows that I try to catch on a regular basis: Modern Family, Glee, Desperate Housewives, Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and Shameless to name a few…

4.  What is your favorite opera to watch/experience?
Troy: Billy Budd of Britten, Katja Kabanova of Janacek, and La bohème.

5.  Have you performed your role in The Marriage of Figaro before? If so, do you have any interesting anecdotes you can share about the experience?
Troy: Yes, I have performed the Count twice before.  The first time was almost 10 years ago and was my first professional role out of an apprenticeship at the Minnesota Opera.  I do remember one thing.  This was pre-PowerPoint, back when supertitles were slides that had to be rented, and there was one translation that was just not what was being said, and the director had no choice but to play what was on the title instead of what Mozart had written.  My, how technology has improved the supertitle experience.

6. Do you have a significant other? Children? Pets?
Troy: I have a husband of 11 years named Rob and he’s a gardener.  His love of gardening has really rubbed off on me as well.  I am looking forward to seeing the thousands of spring bulbs we’ve planted over the years when I get home from Kansas City.  Maybe he’ll send some pictures. I also have two crazy Jack Russell Terriers.

7.  What are your extracurricular hobbies?
Troy: I do always find it interesting to know what non-musical things that other musical professionals are interested in.  I love to cook and garden.  We grow much of our own food, which I love!  I also am very fond of Belgian beers and really good micro-brews.

8.  What facts about you would our audiences be surprised to learn?
Troy: I think that most people are surprised to find out that I’m from such a small town in Kentucky.  Also, that Colonel Sanders himself talked to my Grandfather about going into business with him when they both lived in Corbin, Kentucky way back when.

9.  The opera role you haven’t performed, but would like to perform the most in your career?
Troy: Billy Budd.

10.  If you bumped into me at a coffee shop and learned that I had never been to an opera before, what would you say to entice me to give it a try?
Troy: I find that when people find out that there are supertitles, they are all of a sudden more open and interested.  I always tell people that it’s much like going to a foreign film, but way better.

Director speaks about The Marriage of Figaro

Not long ago we sat down with the Mark Streshinsky, director of The Marriage of Figaro, to ask him about the upcoming production and how he adapted the concept to say goodbye and thank you to the Lyric Theatre.  Hear what he has to say about the evolution of converting this Mozart classic to a production that makes the Lyric Theatre, and the action backstage, the focal point of this charmingly funny story.

10 Questions with Susanna

Sari Gruber stars as Susanna

We spoke with Sari Gruber, who will be performing the role of Susanna, recently about her opera origins, why this probably won’t be her last Susanna, and her favorite opera. Read what this leading lady has to say.

1.  How did your initial interest in the art form of opera begin?
Sari: I was born in Boston, but grew up in Germany until I was about nine.  My parents were huge opera and classical music fans.  I saw my first opera (a staged Carmina burana at Stuttgart Opera) when I was three, and can still remember the tenor standing on a table while the swan was being roasted on the spit. I also remember Walkyries with shrunken heads on their spears and very loooong adult conversations between portly people onstage when I was taken to see much of The Ring when I was five.  I was taken to chamber music and symphony concerts on a weekly basis.  As I grew up and came back to the U.S. with my mother, we would attend an occasional opera in Columbus, Ohio, but every Saturday my mother would blast the Met Broadcast through the house while she was vacuuming, much to my complete embarrassment.  I starting acting in Children’s Theater when I was 12, and by the time I was in high school was quite serious about my craft – along with my love for biology.  I was in the choir, but was not a great soloist, and never got even a one-liner in the musicals.

2. Where did you grow up?
Sari: Tübingen, Germany; Columbus, Ohio; and the Los Angeles area.

3. Do you have a significant other? Children? Pets?
Sari: My husband of ten years is second in charge in the administration of Pittsburgh Opera.  Our four-year-old daughter is here in Kansas City with me.  We have two cats.

4. What is an average day like for you?
Sari: The average day with my more-energetic-than-the-average four-year-old is chaotic and fun, though rarely restful.

5. What is your favorite opera to watch/experience?
Sari: Wozzeck! (Editors note: click to learn about the opera Wozzeck)

6. Have you performed your role in The Marriage of Figaro before? If so, do you have any interesting anecdotes you can share about the experience?
Sari: I have sung 62 performances of the role of Susanna and it is always a ball!  There are so many things that can go wrong for Susanna in this opera, and I think I have had my fair share!

7. What language(s) do you speak fluently?
Sari: English, German, and I am proficient in Italian.

8. What facts about you would our audiences be surprised to learn?
Sari: That I am an avid perennial gardener.

9. What opera role haven’t you performed, but would like to perform the most in your career?
Sari: The other Susanna…Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah!

10. If you bumped into me at a coffee shop and learned that I had never been to an opera before, what would you say to entice me to give it a try?
Sari: Figaro is as fun and funny as opera can get.  The music is amazing, the love stories are touching, and the comedy is broad!

10 Questions with Countess Almaviva

We recently had a chance to speak with Katie Van Kooten, who will be starring in the upcoming production of The Marriage of Figaro as Countess Almaviva.  Although she may not be as scandalous as the character she will portray, Katie still has some interesting things to say.

1.  How did your initial interest in the art form of opera begin?
Katie: I always wanted to be a pop singer until I sang my first opera at the age of 19 and I fell in love! I was singing Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro (ironically) and couldn’t get enough of everything about what I was doing.

2.  Where did you grow up?
Katie: I grew up in Washington state; the Pacific Northwest.

3.  Do you have a significant other? Children? Pets?
Katie: No, I have a 1 year-old niece that is the love of my life, currently!

4.  What is an average day like for you? Do you have a set routine?
Katie: When I have a day to myself I like to wake up with coffee and email, I’m rarely without my Iphone.  Then, I workout and practice. If I can get those both done in a day then it’s a good one.

5.  What is your favorite opera to watch/experience?
Katie: Honestly, whatever I’m working on at the time. I love finding something in whatever is in my brain that captures my musical imagination. It keeps things fresh.

6.  Have you performed your role in The Marriage of Figaro before? If so, do you have any interesting anecdotes you can share about the experience?
Katie: Yes, but not as a professional. I sang it as a student in London for the first time and covered it as a Young Artists at Covent Garden, but I’ve never sung it as a grown-up.  I can’t wait!

7. Some may say that Countess Almaviva is a scandalous role; do you have any scandalous stories from your own life?
Katie: I have no idea! I don’t think I have many scandalous things in my life…

8.  What language(s) do you speak fluently?
Katie: I’m told by my English friends that I barely speak that! I speak a little bit of Italian and can understand a little French.

9.  The opera role you haven’t performed, but would like to perform the most in your career?
Katie: Tosca…or Marchellin. But not for ages yet!

10.  If you bumped into me at a coffee shop and learned that I had never been to an opera before, what would you say to entice me to give it a try?
Katie: I’d say that when you hear or see someone do what they’re meant to do with their life, there is nothing like it! My family didn’t like opera when I started singing and they love it now. I even sing to my 13 month-old niece. Music speaks to people and going to any event is more fun when you know someone in it!