Two Wild and Crazy Guys

Saturday night, I went to COC's new production of Cosi Fan Tutte directed by Atom Egoyan. A projection of The Two Fridas hung over the stage before the show. During the performance, aspects of this painting: the scissors, the opened chest, the sisters linked by blood and vein would be referenced in the staging.

Using the alternate title "A School For Lovers", Egoyan has situated the piece within a private prep school/college. The centerpiece, a giant, glittering curio cabinet filled with scientific geegaws, drew immediate applause. With eager minds and pressed uniforms, the students followed Don Alfonso (Sir Thomas Allen) around as he decided to do an "experiment" in the form of a bet: whether women, as represented by Fiordiligi (Layla Claire) and her sister Dorabella (Wallis Giunta) also in the school uniform, could stay faithful. So their fiances Guglielmo (Robert Gleadow) and Ferrando (Paul Appleby) pretended to leave for war, and returned disguised as Albanian suitors.

Egoyan turned up the sexiness and comedy. There were times when I thought "Gee, sexy schoolgirl" just like in his movie Exotica. The comedy, including some slapstick, was often initiated by the cynical  maid Despina (Tracy Dahl) who was also in on the deception. After jabbing a giant electric prod into the behind of a costumed Ferrando, she should be called the Butt Doctor instead of Dr. Magnet. Gleadow also had fun as a Fabio-esque Lothario.

Egoyan also included the twist that the sisters were in on deception from the beginning. The men had first entered as Albanians wearing literally giant puppet heads with swirling mustaches. But as they removed the heads, a metaphorical unveiling as Gleadow and Appleby were physically disguised the same as the heads, Claire and Giunta "saw" through the costumes. But given the libretto, this stayed a missed plot point, especially in the 2nd act when the sisters struggled with their new emotions. Maybe next time the COC could be daring enough to actually change the libretto to match.

The mood of most the evening was light and breezy rom-com with much laughter. It ameliorated some of the risibleness of disguises, ardent protestations of love, and almost equally swift turn-abouts. Claire and Giunta drew cheers for their arias, but it was the antics of Dahl that won over the crowd.