Performance--Opera

The Marriage of Figaro, presented by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Opera Theatre and the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, opens on Thursday, April 30 at 7:30, with a second performance on Saturday, May 2 at 7:30. The student cast will perform on Sunday, May 3 at 3PM. All performances are in the Ducrest-Gilfry Auditorium in Angelle Hall. Tickets are for sale at the ASO office with prices ranging from $25 - $45.

UL students can get $5 tickets for the Sunday matinee only.

The cast includes:

Figaro - Andrew Wilkowske/Brian Sanford
Susanna- Julie Kinzey/Stacy Broussard
Count Almaviva- Jonathan Hays/Nathan Abbott
Countess Almaviva- Katia Escalera/Sasha Massey
Cherubino - Martina Chylikova/Jessica Wiltz
Dr. Bartolo - Ben Sellers
Marcellina - Lindy Waldmeier/Carolyn Broussard
Don Basilio/Don Curzio - Kevin Credeur
Antonio - Nick Manzo
Barbarina - Angela Prejean/Jenee Luquette

The opera is accompanied by the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra with conductor Mariusz Smolij.

The production is directed by Shawn Roy.

Taken from the play by Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro follows the plot of The Barber of Seville. It is 3 years later. The Count is now married to Rosina (the Countess) and he is already cheating on her. Figaro is now the Count's personal valet and is engaged to Susanna, the Countess's chambermaid. The Count is determined to get his hands on Susanna before the wedding night, so Figaro, Susanna and the Countess devise a scheme to make a fool of the Count and hopefully stop his philandering ways. With the assistance of Cherubino, the pageboy (who a teenager and in love with everything in a skirt!), they will send Cherubino, disguised as a woman, to meet the Count in the garden that night for a rendezvous. This is foiled when the Count catches Cherubino in Susanna's room and sends him off to join the military.

Bartolo and Marcellina have a plot of their own. Figaro borrowed some money from Marcellina and cannot pay it back, so she insists on marrying him for payment. Bartolo is still bent of revenge for stealing Rosina away 3 years ago, so he agrees to assist her. We learn later in the opera that Marcellina and Bartolo are actually the long lost parents of Figaro, so the contract is null and void and Figaro and Susanna get married. That night in the garden, the Countess herself dresses as Susanna and the Count is actually wooing his own wife. When she reveals herself, he apologizes for his wrongs and the opera ends happily.