OPERA REVIEW : A Conventional ‘Cosi’ for San Diego

This, in case you hadn’t yet noticed, is Mozart Year. The world is commemorating the 200th anniversary of Amadeus’ untimely death. Exultate, jubilate . . . .

The San Diego Opera seized the celebratory spirit Saturday to open its 26th season with a lavish new production of “Cosi fan Tutte.”

New? Well, that isn’t totally accurate.

Peter Cooke’s handsome, stylized sets and Michael Stennett’s florid-baroque costumes were created about a dozen years ago for the Australian Opera. More significant, perhaps, John Copley’s classic staging scheme--essentially traditional though skewed in the direction of high-class farce--has already made the rounds of Sydney, London and Santa Fe.

This certainly isn’t the sort of production that forces the observer to re-evaluate Mozart’s wondrous music and Da Ponte’s multitextured libretto. Interpretive provocation isn’t the issue here.

Copley and company make no attempt to strip away the tired and easy “Cosi” cliches, as Peter Hall did in his bittersweet, almost veristic Music Center version in 1988 (to be revived in April). The San Diego team certainly cares nothing about updating the action and exploring the dark psychosexual implications of the work, as Peter Sellars did in his epochal Pepsico edition (to be telecast on PBS next month).

No. This is “Cosi” business as usual.

Luckily, it is poised, polished, thoughtful business. Sometimes it is witty, and occasionally it actually hints at eloquence. The cast is cooperative. The symmetry of the piece is respected. The narrative weights are balanced. The predictable jokes are told with relish.

The old formulas still work.

They might work even better if the musical leadership were entrusted to a conductor equally sensitive to the charm, the humor, the irony and the pain in the score. Thomas Schuback, unfortunately, strives for little beyond speed--sometimes, it would seem, for its own breathless sake--and for expository efficiency.

One appreciates his high spirits. One is grateful that he ignores most of the usual cuts. Still, one regrets his superficiality.

Under the circumstances, “Cosi” at the Civic Theatre becomes a singers’ opera, virtually by default. The strong ensemble is dominated by Carol Vaness, whose Fiordiligi in Los Angeles had warranted happy comparisons with such paragons as Ina Souez, Eleanor Steber and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Once again, she sang the impossible dramatic-coloratura lines with exhilarating breadth, staggering ease and uncanny flexibility. She may have seemed a bit rusty in the roulades of “Come scoglio” on this occasion, but she projected the anxious introspection of “Perpieta” with arching legato control and, more important, heroic pathos.

She was deftly partnered by the engagingly giddy, well-practiced Dorabella of Judith Forst. One of these days, however, the Canadian mezzo-soprano might consider following the example of Anne Howells and swapping the ingenue duties for the crusty character challenge of Despina. That challenge was dispatched here--with cutesy elan, chirpy tone and sweet soubrette manners--by Barbara Bonney.

Keith Lewis, a Mozart specialist from New Zealand, managed a rare fusion of grace and passion as Ferrando. He wasn’t even fazed by the ornate hurdle of “Tradito, schernito.” Hakan Hagegard mustered compelling macho bluster as Guglielmo and made a tour de force of “Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo,” an alternate aria that most baritones prefer to avoid.

Peter Strummer played Don Alfonso with just the right air of aristocratic subtlety supporting cynical superiority. He also offered a telling lesson in how to magnetize attention with modest vocal resources.

The discerning first-nighters endured the lengthy performance--the two acts lasted nearly 3 1/2 hours--with stoic cheer. As always, the supertitles inspired premature mirth.

The most bemusing message wasn’t projected atop the proscenium, however. It was posted in a foyer rest room. Both in English and Spanish translation, it urged the gentlemen in attendance to avoid drinking alcohol while pregnant.

Cosi fan tutti?