Miami performances are at the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami.

Fort Lauderdale performances are at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW 5th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.

Children must be at least six years old to attend.

FEATURED ON-SITE DINING

The Marriage of Figaro

by WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

The servants turn the tables on the masters in Mozart’s biting and sexually charged comedy about the established social order being tossed on its head. Today, The Marriage of Figaro rocks with the same revolutionary spirit that made it such a popular success at its 1786 premiere. Experience an intoxicating take on one of the great ensemble comedies in all of opera, with its endless supply of unforgettable melodies.

Sung in Italian with English and Spanish projected translations

MIAMI
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County
Ziff Ballet Opera House
Jan 26, 2019, at 7:00pm
Jan 29 and 31, 2019, at 8:00pm
Feb 3, 2019, at 2:00pm

FORT LAUDERDALE
Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Au-Rene Theater
Feb 7, 2019, at 7:30pm
Feb 9, 2019, at 6:00pm

Synopsis

ACT I. A palace bedroom

Figaro and his fiancée Susanna eagerly survey their future living quarters. Figaro likes the close proximity to their masters, the Count and Countess Almaviva, but Susanna would prefer to be far away. The spinster Marcellina asks Dr. Bartolo for help in preventing the marriage; Figaro had borrowed money from her, promising marriage if he couldn't repay. When Susanna arrives, she and Marcellina exchange insults. Cherubino, the hormonally charged young page of the court, enters; he hides when the Count enters the room. The Count tries to seduce Susanna but must hide when Basilio, the meddling music teacher, is heard outside. Basilio’s disparaging remarks draw out the Count. Upon discovering Cherubino hiding in the room with Susanna, the Count names him captain of his regiment in Seville.

ACT II. The Countess’s bedroom

The Countess longs for a renewal of her husband’s love. Cherubino serenades her to Susanna’s guitar accompaniment. Susanna goes off to find some women’s clothing into which to dress Cherubino as part of a plot Figaro and she have cooked up, when the Count comes knocking, and Cherubino hides in the closet. The Count is disturbed to find his wife’s door locked, and perturbed when she will not unlock her closet. He goes to summon help to force the door, taking the Countess with him and locking the outer door. Susanna returns and frees Cherubino, who escapes through the window, landing in the garden. When the Count and Countess return, it is Susanna who appears from the locked closet. Figaro rushes in to say the wedding ceremony is ready to begin. Antonio, the gardener, staggers in to complain about crushed flowers; Figaro takes the blame. Chaos reigns when Marcellina, Bartolo, and Basilio storm the room to demand Figaro’s payment in full.

ACT III. A palace hall

In a brief moment of introspection, the Count wonders what has become of his honor. Susanna agrees to meet the Count in the garden after dark, as instructed by the Countess. Figaro must pay or marry Marcellina, but he says he cannot marry because he doesn’t have his parents’ permission. Moreover, he has no parents to grant it. We discover that Marcellina is his mother…and Bartolo his father. Plans are made for a double wedding! After contemplating her husband’s infidelity, the Countess and Susanna write a seductive letter to the Count to further entrap him. Country girls arrive bringing flowers to the Countess; Figaro enters telling them it’s time for the party and the dance. During the dance, the letter is slipped to the Count. He takes the bait.

ACT IV. A palace garden

Figaro believes that Susanna is indeed having a tryst with the Count. Figaro, Basilio, and Bartolo lie in wait for the Count and Susanna’s rendezvous. Disguised as each other, Susanna and the Countess arrive. Susanna, warned by Marcellina about Figaro, decides to get back at him for his suspicions. Enter Cherubino. He tries to kiss “Susanna”—but in the dark he kisses the just-arrived Count. The Count attempts to slap Cherubino—only to strike Figaro, who has stepped up for a closer look. The Count charges his “wife” with infidelity and refuses to forgive her. He is humiliated when it is revealed that he has been wooing his own wife, believing her to be Susanna. The Count begs forgiveness, and clemency is granted.

–Mark C. Graf