DETROIT (AP) 鈥 Audiences at the Detroit Opera House expecting their performance of 鈥淐osi fan tutte" to begin with the overture may be surprised to hear instead a product launch from a tech company CEO.
It鈥檚 Mozart meets in the latest mind-bending production by Yuval Sharon, the company鈥檚 adventurous artistic director.
The opera, first performed in 1790, was the last of three collaborations between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, and despite its sublime music it has proved the least popular.
That鈥檚 due In part to the work鈥檚 uneasy mix of light-hearted farce and the cynical worldview it seems to endorse. Even the title, which translates as 鈥淲omen are Like That,鈥 suggests a misogyny that is openly expressed by one of its main characters, Don Alfonso.
But Sharon rejects the idea that the opera itself is meant to demean women. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going too far to call Mozart a feminist,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut when I listen to the music, it seems to me he doesn鈥檛 want us to agree with Don Alfonso. He and Da Ponte can鈥檛 possibly want us to take half the population of humanity and constantly denigrate it.鈥
Instead, Sharon believes, the collaborators are 鈥渞epresenting a character and perspective that might actually not be the perspective we鈥檙e meant to sympathize with.鈥
In the opera, Don Alfonso, a jaded philosopher, bets two young friends that, given the opportunity, their girlfriends, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, will prove unfaithful. The men switch identities, adopt disguises, and each pursues his friend鈥檚 sweetheart. Eventually both women succumb to their new suitors.
Don Alfonso as AI entrepreneur
Sharon鈥檚 production turns Alfonso into the head of an AI company called SoulSync. Under his guidance the younger men have created two female automatons (Alfonso doesn鈥檛 like the term robots) designed to be 鈥減erfect companions.鈥
This concept of Alfonso as a soulless tech guru may sound far-fetched, but Sharon insists it鈥檚 not so far from the truth.
鈥淗e鈥檚 actually a replica of what we see in the tech industry,鈥 Sharon said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a messianic belief that we must transcend our own humanity and that AI is making up for all the terrible ways we behave. People really do believe that the future of humanity is robotic.鈥
Thomas Lehman, a baritone who is singing the role of one of the lovers, Guglielmo, in his fourth production of the work, thinks Sharon is 鈥渢aking the story and turning it upside down in the right ways.
鈥淭he original libretto leans heavily toward the men,鈥 he said. 鈥淵uval has found a way to give the women the strength they deserve, to make it a level playing field.鈥
Mezzo-soprano Emily Fons, who is portraying Dorabella for the third time, sees the updating as part of a broader movement of 鈥渢rying to figure out how to take pieces that are old and do something new.鈥
The automatons may be programmed to act a certain way, but 鈥渨e鈥檙e all programmed to some extent,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hat speaks to me is how they learn to feel things and take those feelings to have a say in what happens next.鈥
Sharon said that鈥檚 exactly what he鈥檚 aiming for. The women 鈥渟tart out incredibly mechanical and become much more human in a way,鈥 he said. 鈥淎s if we鈥檙e really watching their consciousness and their emotional life develop before our eyes.鈥 The men, on the other hand, increasingly reveal their limitations and become less interesting as the opera progresses.
What up with the magnet?
The notion of humans as machines is actually embedded in the opera as Mozart and Da Ponte wrote it 鈥 something Sharon said he first realized while attending a performance years ago.
鈥淚 was watching a traditional production, very crinoline, hoop skirts, big dresses, lots of buffoonery. I was quite bored,鈥 he recalled. 鈥淎nd then we get to the Act I finale and suddenly there鈥檚 this magnet. And I thought, what鈥檚 up with that?鈥
What was up was a medical treatment advanced by Franz Mesmer, an 18th century German physician who was a friend of Mozart and whose name has given rise to the term 鈥渕esmerism.鈥
He believed that the human body contained metals that could be realigned by moving a magnet over the skin. In the opera, a character named Despina poses as a physician and uses a magnet to 鈥渃ure鈥 the two suitors who have pretended to swallow poison.
Though the production, which opens April 5 for three performances, raises serious questions about the use of AI, Sharon has made sure to keep the tone light. And he鈥檚 built in some twists and turns of his own devising to take the audience by surprise.
That鈥檚 why the plot summary in the written program ends abruptly after Act 1. In place of the remainder of the story there鈥檚 just this note:
鈥淭he director has intentionally withheld a synopsis for Act II to avoid spoilers. Enjoy the drama as it unfolds.鈥
