Part comedy, part political thriller, this new opera reveals what happened after Susanna and Figaro got married …
So, was it really happy ever after for the Almaviva household? Has the distant thunder of revolution turned into a storm from which they cannot escape? What does the world of Figaro sound like in the hands of a contemporary composer?
These questions have intrigued David Pountney. So much so that he decided to provide some answers. He’s done this by commissioning a new opera by Elena Langer for which he has written the libretto. Comic moments collide with touching ones in an opera which is part comedy, part political thriller. Langer and Pountney have created an affectionate sequel to Mozart’s classic, a testimony to human courage and resilience.
The characters of The Marriage of Figaro are some of the best-loved in opera. For those of us who have seen the opera before, they can feel like people we know, even friends. Figaro Gets a Divorce, therefore, is a one-off reunion, a chance to catch-up with these old friends.
Plot summary
The Almaviva family and their servants, married couple Figaro and Susanna, are on the run from revolution, when they are stopped by a secret agent, The Major.
The Major is intent on destroying the family, and reveals to Count Almaviva that his son, Serafin Almaviva, is the love child of an affair between the Countess Almaviva and Cherubino, their former page, reportedly killed in action. Separately, the Major reveals to the Count’s ward, Angelika, that she is the love child from an affair between the Count and a former servant, Barbarina. Angelika, believing her fiancé, Serafin, is in fact her brother, is forced to accept The Major’s proposal to take him as a husband instead.
Figaro and Susanna’s marriage is in trouble. Susanna is scornful of Figaro, who refuses to give her a child, and has returned to his former trade as a barber to survive.
She has an affair with The Cherub – a night club owner who turns out to be Cherubino, who did not die in battle after all. The Countess uncovers the Major’s plot to destroy the family, and Serafin and Angelika realise they are not siblings after all, and can marry.
The family flees from the Major and end up back at the Almaviva castle, which has been turned into a mental asylum. Cherubino is shot and killed in the darkness. Susanna is pregnant with Cherubino’s child, but is reconciled with Figaro. The family tries to outwit the Major by feigning madness, but when they try to escape, they realise they are trapped, as revolutionary forces approach. The Count shows the young people an escape route, but he and the Countess stay and await their fate.
