On Friday, March 26, 2021 at 5:30pm PT, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presents a free livestream of their very funny and entertaining COVID fan tutte, a revolutionary production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte that premiered in a live, drive-in format in Camarillo, California in November 2020. Livestreams of previous productions are also on-line (consider making a donation to this awesome crew).
COVID fan tutte featured a new English libretto by Artistic Director Josh Shaw and is set in 2020 at a SoCal golf resort. The updated plot follows two girls who are spending their quarantine at a SoCal golf resort and the local caddies have won their hearts. Don Alfonso, a rich, meddling member of the resort, is looking for some fun and instigates a bet with the boys to see if their girls are truly faithful. Despina, a waitress from the clubhouse is there to assist Don Alfonso in the charade. The boys are furloughed rather than sent off to war and return in disguise to tempt their girlfriends. Personal protective equipment, facemasks, and social distancing played a large part in the update, finally making the disguises and plot of Cosi fan tutte (almost) believable.
To ensure maximum safety and compliance, the cast featured three outstanding real-life couples – Jamie Chamberlin and Nathan Granner (Fiordiligi/Ferrando), Christina Pezzarossi and Colin Ramsey (Dorabella/Guglielmo), and Ariel Pisturino and E. Scott Levin (Despina and Don Alfonso) – who quarantined together before the performances. Kyle Naig conducted a socially distant orchestra from the harpsichord.
The drive-in format allowed 90 vehicles per performance, with the number of people in each car limited only to the number of seat belts. The show was presented within COVID guidelines with live video projected above the stage with supertitles and sound broadcast into the cars via FM radio.
Performance Information
COVID fan tutte
Streaming on YouTube and Facebook
Tickets: Free
More Information: POP
photo by Martha Benedict