Renée Fleming makes directing debut with wrestling-themed ‘Così fan tutte’ at Aspen Music Festival

ASPEN Ren e Fleming s Cos fan tutte was ready to rumble Long a star soprano Fleming made her directing debut Monday night at the Aspen Music Festival and School by transporting Mozart s masterpiece from th century Naples Italy to a gym in Yarmouth Massachusetts amid professional wrestling s rise in Posters on stage display Sylvester Stallone as Rocky wrestler Randy Savage and Jane Fonda hawking her workout video In Fleming s concept Fiordiligi and Dorabella are workout-obsessed high school sisters It s a coming of age for the protagonists and a loss of innocence Fleming stated An outstanding learner cast ages - mostly making role debuts was accompanied by conductor Patrick Summers leading a -piece orchestra at the -capacity Wheeler Opera House opened in during the Colorado Silver Boom There are two additional performances through Saturday at a festival that includes about residents events from July to Aug Lauren Carroll the -year-old soprano who sings Fiordiligi did a split Dorabella -year-old mezzo-soprano Ashlyn Brown struggled to lift a heavy barbell Michelle Harvey s scenic design in the tight space of a -foot-wide proscenium included punching bags bo staffs and ThighMasters Fleming sang her first Countess in Mozart s Le Nozze di Figaro as an Aspen participant in Now she has since limited her crooning to concerts a limited contemporary operas and Broadway Staging spark was at a hockey match Fleming had a circuitous road to her concept I can t do the opera relating to hockey but I did think of another sport that reminds me so much of opera and that s professional wrestling There s a suspension of disbelief that is huge she reported Fans believe these characters are real and that the moves are real and of class it s all absolutely choreographed Fleming at first spoke with Francesca Zambello the Washington National Opera s artistic director I stated Convince me sell me tell me Zambello related you really have to work it through from the overture to the final curtain WNO s Cos in was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic In Fleming and Summers launched Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS with singers annually attending an eight-week initiative that covers their tuition room and board plus pays a stipend Wrestling family history Ashlyn Brown the -year-old mezzo-soprano who performs Dorabella is a granddaughter of Don Stansauk the wrestler known as Hard Boiled Haggerty I grew up with wrestling heritage she revealed I used to go to the Cauliflower Alley Club meetings when I was a kid He brought all of his buddies like Andre the Giant Carroll was a cheerleader and her mother is an aerobics instructor She really invests in young artists and it s authentic she revealed of Fleming She really means it and backs it up with action In creating the look Fleming thought back to her time at Churchville-Chili Senior High School in New York I have photographs of me with a really bad mullet and overalls she explained Just before intermission ended a Fonda dress-alike led the audience in calisthenics Despina soprano Laura Miah a gym manager here instead of a maid uses a blender to make protein shakes and heads stretching exercises Ren e of program demanded a lot of herself as a singer in that way and that s extended itself to her demands on them in this Summers stated Mozart s opera has the two boyfriends adopt hidden identities and romance each other s girlfriend to test their virtue Both women fall for the other s boyfriend and while the two couples get back together in the original Fleming has both relationships come apart Fiordiligi ends up wearing an ERA YES shirt Don Alfonso is a gym owner Guglielmo and Ferrando the boyfriends baritone Finn Sagal and tenor Jonghyun Park wear Amanda Seymour s colorful clothes including powder blue and light gray tuxedos with ruffled shirts Peter Barber a -year-old bass-baritone who sings Don Alfonso boxes to keep in shape When I was I think or years old after watching Rocky I had a custom boxing robe made for me he reported Role a part of Fleming s life for more than years Fleming sang Fiordiligi for the first time at Geneva in March She greeted the cast at the first rehearsal on June by telling them Toi toi toi Let s have certain fun using a performers expression for good luck I m astonished that someone who is such an extraordinary singer and performer they are also an extraordinary stage director choreographer Sara Erde mentioned She knows every note of the music every word of the text Fleming learned that unlike with humming directing requires million decisions that have to be made day to day At WNO Fleming had envisioned a set with a stadium-sized video screen She hopes the staging has an extended life If anybody requested to do it it would be really fun in a bigger theater with a budget she announced Especially the time we re in it s not a bad time to bring pro wrestling into opera because of the similarities for the sheer novelty of it Subscribe to our weekly 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