A match made in opera heaven
By Catherine Reese Newton
The Salt Lake Tribune

Review » The wedding of the year is happening this week at Salt Lake City's Capitol Theatre, where Utah Opera is staging an exhilarating production of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro."

Ryan McKinny and Jamie-Rose Guarrine are ideally cast as Figaro and Susanna, the young working-class couple at the center of the opera. Both singers bring strong, youthful voices, bracing physicality and considerable acting skill to their roles.

It's common in this opera for a Figaro to overshadow his Susanna, as his is the flashier role. Not so in this production; Guarrine's fiery Susanna and McKinny's wily Figaro are a perfect match. Guarrine's sublime performance of Susanna's fourth-act aria, "Deh vieni non tardar," was one of Saturday's highlights. "Che soave zeffiretto," the duet Susanna and the Countess sing while setting a trap for the philandering Count, reaches similar heights. McKinny, for his part, commands the stage with an appealing humanity and rock-solid vocal technique.

Philip Cutlip and Nicolle Foland, like McKinny and Guarrine, are well-matched as the opera's other main couple, Count and Countess Almaviva. Under David Gately's sometimes acerbic direction, Cutlip and Foland play the royal couple as a pair of caldrons simmering with resentment; she is only slightly more successful than he at keeping the lid on. This approach heightens dramatic tension and keeps the Countess from coming across as a victim. The trade-off, of course, is that the transcendent moment of reconciliation in the finale becomes somewhat less believable and thus less satisfying.

Nina Yoshida Nelsen plays Cherubino, the love-addled page, like an unruly puppy. Her singing is anything but undisciplined, and that's what makes the comic staging of "Voi che sapete," Cherubino's gem of a love song to the Countess, so magical.

The secondary roles are filled by polished singers who also are skilled physical comedians: Michael J. Wanko as the hapless schemer Bartolo, Kathryn Cowdrick as the imperious Marcellina, Jon Kolbert in the dual role of oily Basilio and stammering Curzio, and Gregory Pearson as the drunken Antonio. Chanel Wood's appearance as Barbarina is brief but memorable, thanks to her lovely performance of the missing-pin aria. Chorus master Susanne Sheston's Utah Opera Chorus has a strong showing, led by Camella Canete and Gretchen Windt in featured roles as bridesmaids.

Christopher Larkin, conducting from the harpsichord as Mozart would have done, leads the Utah Symphony in a light, nimble and beautifully detailed performance. Director Gately, a Utah Opera favorite, once again shows his strong flair for comedy. Despite the opera's breakneck pace, he makes all the twists and turns clear enough for a child to follow. Susan Memmott Allred's costumes and Nicholas Cavallaro's lighting are, as usual, first-rate.