On Friday, Arizona Opera welcomed it back in style, honoring Mozart's masterpiece with almost uniformly excellent singing and effective dramatics. The period sets and costumes look attractive, too. But don't let that disuade your from attending. Intermittent recitative aside, 'Figaro's' four acts abound in arias, duets and ensemble pieces, some for eight people or more. There are more than 20 numbers, and nearly all have entered the operatic hit parade.
Few operas can match that kind of output.
In some ensemble passages, different characters sing different lines or communicate secret thoughts. This production's surtitles clarify an Italian babble, though one translated phrase 'between you and I' probably won't please your high school English teacher. Figaro , an 1878 work set in a count's chateau of 18th century Spain, was Mozart's first collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The complex, somewhat improbable story is based on banned French play that ridiculed the upper classes and thei privileges. The dreaded droit du Seigneur has been abolished, but Count Almaviva still tries to seduce Susanna, the maidenhead of his valet, Figaro, on her wedding night.