Empire Theatre, Eden Court, 7 November 2008

Renate Arends, Wendy Dawn Thompson and Rebecca Bottone in The Secret Marriage

TODAY Domenico Cimarosa is one of opera’s best kept secrets, though in the late 18th century he far outshone his contemporary Mozart. He had already composed over 50 successful, mostly comic, operas when The Secret Marriage (Il matrimonio segreto) premiered to the Austrian court in February 1792, only two months’ after the pauper’s death of Wolfgang Amadeus. It was such a hit that the Emperor commanded the company to dine with him and repeat the whole show in his private apartments.

Scottish Opera’s premiere production of this work is complete entertainment from the moment the curtain goes up on the gloriously chic 1950s-style costumes worn by Carolina (Rebecca Bottone), her elder sister Elisetta (Renate Arends) and their aunt Fidalma (Wendy Dawn Thompson).

Straight out of the pages of Vogue, they stride and strut, pose and swirl like catwalk models, in and out of doors and up and down the staircase that dominates Tom Rogers’ supremely elegant set. The cast shared the light touch essential for comic acting, all their voices were beautifully balanced, while Bottone’s coloratura runs were a particular pleasure.

The libretto of Cimarosa’s opera is based on The Clandestine Marriage, by English actor/manager David Garrick. Donald Pippin’s retranslation from the Italian contains some nicely judged, and in some cases positively treasurable, lines, often with a very Gilbert & Sullivan feel. Some examples for your delectation, ladies and gentlemen…

“Thoroughly rotten, better forgotten
This is the man I want her to wed”

“The bottle that I’ve got’ll
put him back upon his feet”

“Would you want to be deflowered
By a bully and a coward?”

…and there’s much, much more where that came from.

The elaborate plot revolves about a farcical array of misunderstandings, as the noble suitor to whom Geronimo is offering Elisetta falls for her younger sister Carolina, who is already married, unbeknownst to anyone, to the family butler Paulino – with whom their aunt Fidalma is besotted.

Transposing the action from the 1790s to the 1950s works surprisingly well, the marriage customs of the debutantes and their ‘delights’ having many parallels with the arranged marriages of bygone times. When the secretly married couple prepare to run away together in Carolina’s bedroom, her four poster bed is decorated with James Dean pinups while she and Paulino are now dead ringers for Sandy and Danny in Grease, just one more spot-on detail in a production that is delightful, delicious and delovely from beginning to end.

© Jennie Macfie, 2008

Links

• Scottish Opera