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By Matthew Westphal
25 Jan 2007
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Il Signor Bruschino, a one-act comic opera by Rossini unseen in New York City for more than 70 years, begins a five-performance run tonight in a new production from the enterprising Gotham Chamber Opera.
As so often in this sort of comedy (The Barber of Seville being an obvious example), Bruschino concerns an enamored young man who puts on a disguise and tricks the guardian of his lady love into letting him marry her. In this case, Florville and his adored Sofia find out that her guardian Gaudenzio has arranged her marriage into the lofty Bruschino family. Florville bribes the would-be fiancé and passes himself off as the intended bridegroom — at one point almost fooling his ostensible father, the elder Signor Bruschino. (Old men in Rossini are always so gullible ...)
Director Robin Guarino's new production of the opera — which has not had a full, professional staging in New York since 1932-33 at the Met, with Ezio Pinza — updates the action to the Fellini-esque environs of Rome's Via Veneto, circa 1960. We're pleased to offer some photos of the staging, above left and below.
Tenor Alek Shrader and soprano Lisa Hopkins play the young lovers Florville and Sofia, with basses Eric Jordan and Marco Nisticò as Gaudenzio and the elder Bruschino. Gotham Chamber Opera artistic director Neal Goren conducts the company's chamber orchestra.
All five performances — tonight (a special fundraising gala), Sunday (January 28) and February 1 and 3 — take place at the 350-seat Harry de Jur Playhouse at the corner of Grand and Pitt Streets on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Tickets are available by calling 1-212-279-4200 or visiting www.ticketcentral.com; more information about the production and the company can be found at www.gothamchamberopera.org.
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All photos by Richard Termine.
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