I think we need to address the fact that New Zelaand Opera's 2021 production of The Marriage of Figaro is dripping with sexuality, near-nudity, rubbing and crotch-sitting. I don't know if this is how Mozart and Da Ponte intended it to be, but I hope so and I am here for it.
One of the first things we see after the curtain raises is Figaro facing away form the audience, his shapely butt outlined in tight pants, as he measures up a room for his wedding bed. The guy isn't even married yet, but he's definitely got plans for the after-after party.
It's not long before we meet the opera's best character, Cherubino. We're going to talk about Cherubino, because the wee angel is outstanding – thanks to Bianca Andrew's bubbly performance and thanks to the quirks of the character. Cherubino is a 'breeches' role, which means the character is a male played by a female. In this case a teenage male, an almost unbearably horny one who's got a real hard-on for the Countess Almaviva (and her husband the Count knows it).
READ MORE: Cityscape interviews the amazing women in The Marriage of Figaro creative team
At one point, Cherubino's clothes are flying around the room as the Countess and her aide Susanna help him out of his uniform and into a corset. Yep, so now we're at a woman playing a man dressed as a woman. He winds up hiding in the dressing room when the Count almost catches him smooching the Countess.
This bit is great – it's a wholeheartedly operatic complex scene of position switches and twists and turns, but the Count's suspicions are relieved when he finds out there's a woman hiding in the dressing room, not a man. The dinosaur that he is, he can't conceive of the idea his wife might be canoodling with a woman, but there is absolutely something delightfully queer going on here.
And the Count! The opera singer John Moore who plays him is hands-down one of the best stage actors I've seen – not just in opera but in any stage production. He's utterly convincing and gives off a strong 'jaded rock star' vibe.
He's the antagonist of this story in every way. He's the villain, and he's also an antagonistic prick who literally antagonises every other character. He's a lecherous old creep, and while his wife the Countess is also having an affair, the big difference is that the Count's affections are not requited by the women he preys upon.
Like any good #meetoo villain, he is at times disturbingly likeable, playing the set-upon patriarch befuddled at every turn by more sprightly young men and meddling women. But at the end of the day he's an attempted rapist so it's pretty hard to feel sorry for his distress.
Figaro and Suzanna are delightful souls who move through a whole love story in a very short time, from optimism and lust, to argument, miscommunication, frustration, mistrust, forgiveness and back to lust again with a lot of laughs along the way.
The opera is more than the sum of its arias, each of which is sung with incredible talent by heroes and villains alike. And there's something very lively about the entire production. All the while the main characters are interacting in the foreground, we catch glimpses of minor characters and chorus in the background and in the wings, passing by doorways with wedding cakes, doing the gardening, tuning instruments, and all the other little things that bring Le nozze di Figaro to life.
Live stream the final performance of The Marriage of Figaro for free
Tuesday 13 July
nzopera.com/live-stream-access