Getting witty with Mozart

Opera Pacific opened a handsome, witty production of Mozart’s bittersweet comedy “Cosi fan tutte” Tuesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Stage director Bernard Uzan brought efficiency and humanity -- and telling subtle touches -- to the plot in which two men foolishly bet to test the constancy of their fiancees. John DeMain conducted with fluency and insight, taking some nips and tucks in the score to keep the running time under four hours. The cast of singers was especially good in ensembles.

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle created the lean and attractive period sets, with side panels that rotated to turn an indoor room into an outdoor garden. Different backdrops fell in to complete the picture. Extras, dressed in 18th century livery, looked perfectly appropriate as they moved furniture on and off the stage or stood ready to serve their social masters.

Ponnelle also created costumes -- modeled on 18th century silhouettes -- that were detailed and lavish. In many productions, the Albanian disguises the men don to deceive their fiancees look cheap and silly. Here, they looked rich and elegant. Even the fake beards had a kind of style. The sisters wore matching dresses -- white when they were happy, black when they were mourning. They also wore the same style of black-rimmed eyeglasses to signal nearsightedness. Both made sure to take the glasses off whenever a man entered the room.

The action opens in a posh men’s club, with our impulsive, dumb-boy heroes (Ferrando and Guglielmo) fencing with each other as they scoff at the older and more experienced Don Alfonso’s assertions that all women -- even theirs -- are fickle. It is an engaging image that quickly establishes the playful but dangerous game they are about to play. The three sign a wine bottle to seal the deal and place it dead center downstage under a bench, where it remains mostly unobtrusive throughout the production.

But in Act 2, when Fiordiligi leans on the bench for support as she lacerates herself in accusation in her aria “Per pieta, ben mio, perdona” (“Dearest love, I beg your pardon”), the bottle reminds us that real human suffering has been caused by a cruel game. What a contrast to Uzan’s staging of her grand Act 1 aria, “Come scoglio” (“Like a rock”), in which she sits the disguised suitors on the bench so she can deliver, almost as an opera within an opera, her declamations of constancy and dedication.

Pamela Armstrong made an intense Fiordiligi, although she was somewhat rough at the extremes of her range. Kristine Jepson was her sister, Dorabella, strong in voice and lovable in her susceptibility to other people’s influence. Eric Cutler was a bit brassy but quite powerful as Ferrando. Kyle Ketelsen was a mellifluous Guglielmo.

Alicia Berneche made her company debut as a sparkplug, galvanizing Despina, the maid of all work. John Packard was an imposing Don Alfonso, though his singing was marred by muddied diction.

The small but well-focused chorus was trained by Henry Venanzi. Donald E. Thomas’ lighting scheme deftly chronicled the passing of the action within 24 hours.

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‘Cosi fan tutte’

Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: Today and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.

Price: $40-$185

Info: (800) 346-7372