The Marriage of Figaro by BeaumarchaisMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is the play, not the opera.
And it's okay. Frothy. All hijinks and mistaken identities and hiding behind furniture.
To be fair, the play deals with some important themes, especially the unearned power and authority of the aristocracy. Figaro is going to marry Suzanne, but the nobleman they both work for wants to sleep with her before Figaro does. He's said it. Everybody knows it. It's gross. In a long speech, Figaro is lamenting a political system that could allow that:
No, Your Lordship, you will not have her, you will not have her! Just because you're a great nobleman, you think you're a great genius! Being an aristocrat, having money, a position in society, holding public office--all that makes a man so arrogant! What have you ever done for all this wealth? You took the trouble to be born and nothing else!
Such language coming just years before the French Revolution, you can see why authorities didn't like it. In fact, in that same long speech, Figaro complains about censorship in the press and theater. But he also complains about women being unfaithful. It's kind of a wide-ranging rant and feels tacked on.
But mostly this is a silly romp. Figaro is getting married; the count has lost interest in his own wife and wants Figaro's; young lovers are getting in trouble; and a number of characters have designs on other characters, to the point that Marceline tries to force Figaro to marry her through appeal to the court but turns out to be his long-lost mother. Ooops! And we just move on. The play is filled with schemes that don't work and tricks that are discovered and lucky coincidences, making the plot such a muddle you're just glad it all gets sorted in the end.
I can imagine this being staged in a clever, witty way, earning laughs, if the direction is really strong, but if they're not careful I think it'd end up just a mess.
I agree about the aristocrats, though. He had a point.
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