Production Dates

December 16 & 17, 2022

7:00 pm

Greer Auditorium

Central Christian College

McPherson, Kansas

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Production Personnel

Director: Alex Paul Sheerin

Assistant Director: Kadin Eleador

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Music Director/Conductor: J. Bradley Baker

Assistant Music Director: Tzu Kuang Tan

Pianist-Coaches: Migeun Chung, Carmen Ching

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Costume Designer, Jen Stephenson

Set Design/Construction: J. Bradley Baker, Alex Paul Sheerin

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Cast

Fiordiligi:  Lisa Algozzini, Heather Hawk

Dorabella:  Michelle Monroe, Hannah Wheeler

Guglielmo:  Spencer McIntire, Jake Tipoff

Ferrando:  Micah Perry, Jonathan Ray

Despina:  Jung-an Chou, Ju-Young Ma

Don Alfonso:  Peter Wesoloski

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Ensemble: 

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Liza Moss

Jacqueline Parson**

Emily Perry

Ashley Ruckman★

Gwendolyn Delaney✓

Brianna Reilly

Jacob King

Kadin Eleador

David Rambo Serrano►

Riley Winterton✶

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**Fiordiligi cover

✓Dorabella cover

✶Guglielmo cover

★Despina cover

►Don Alfonso cover

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Orchestra:

Angelo Mello, Violin

Clem Pearson, Violin

Krisopher Hilding, Viola

Susanna Beckman, Cello

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About Così fan tutte

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Così fan tutte, or La scuola degli amanti, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte who also wrote Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni.

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Language: Sung in Italian

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Composition Date: 1789

 

Runtime: 2 hours, 45 minutes

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Plot Summary:

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Act 1

Scene 1: A coffeehouse

In a cafe, Ferrando and Guglielmo (two officers) express certainty that their fiancées (Dorabella and Fiordiligi, respectively) will be eternally faithful. Don Alfonso expresses skepticism and claims that there is no such thing as a faithful woman. He lays a wager with the two officers, claiming he can prove in a day's time that those two, like all women, are fickle. The wager is accepted: the two officers will pretend to have been called off to war; soon thereafter they will return in disguise and each attempt to seduce the other's lover. The scene shifts to the two women, who are praising their men. Alfonso arrives to announce the bad news: the officers have been called off to war. Ferrando and Guglielmo arrive, brokenhearted, and bid farewell. As the boat with the men sails off to sea, Alfonso and the sisters wish them safe travel. Alfonso, left alone, gloatingly predicts that the women (like all women) will prove unfaithful.

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Scene 2: A room in the sisters' home

Despina, the maid, arrives and asks what is wrong. Dorabella bemoans the torment of having been left alone. Despina mocks the sisters, advising them to take new lovers while their betrotheds are away. After they leave, Alfonso arrives. He fears Despina will recognize the men through their disguises, so he bribes her into helping him to win the bet. The two men then arrive, dressed as mustachioed Albanians. The sisters enter and are alarmed by the presence of strange men in their home. The "Albanians" tell the sisters that they were led by love to them (the sisters). However, the sisters refuse to give in. Fiordiligi asks the "Albanians" to leave and pledges to remain faithful. The "Albanians" continue the attempt to win over the sisters' hearts, Guglielmo going so far as to point out all of his manly attributes, but to no avail. Ferrando, left alone and sensing victory, praises his love.

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Scene 3: A garden

The sisters are still pining. Despina has asked Don Alfonso to let her take over the seduction plan. Suddenly, the "Albanians" burst in the scene and threaten to poison themselves if they are not allowed the chance to woo the sisters. As Alfonso tries to calm them, they drink the "poison" and pretend to pass out. Soon thereafter, a "doctor" (Despina in disguise) arrives on the scene and, using magnet therapy, is able to revive the "Albanians". The men, pretending to hallucinate, demand a kiss from Dorabella and Fiordiligi (whom the "Albanians" call goddesses) who stand before them. The sisters refuse, even as Alfonso and the doctor (Despina) urge them to acquiesce.

 

Act 2
Scene 1: The sisters' bedroom

Despina urges them to succumb to the "Albanians"' overtures. After she leaves, Dorabella confesses to Fiordiligi that she is tempted, and the two agree that a mere flirtation will do no harm and will help them pass the time while they wait for their lovers to return

 

Scene 2: The garden

Dorabella and the disguised Guglielmo pair off, as do the other two. The conversation is haltingly uncomfortable, and Ferrando departs with Fiordiligi. Now alone, Guglielmo attempts to woo Dorabella. She does not resist strongly, and soon she has given him a medallion (with Ferrando's portrait inside) in exchange for a heart-shaped locket. Ferrando is less successful with Fiordiligi, so he is enraged when he later finds out from Guglielmo that the medallion with his portrait has been so quickly given away to a new lover. Guglielmo at first sympathises with Ferrando, but then gloats, because his betrothed is faithful.

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Scene 3: The sisters' room

Dorabella admits her indiscretion to Fiordiligi. Fiordiligi, upset by this development, decides to go to the army and find her betrothed. Before she can leave, though, Ferrando arrives and continues his attempted seduction. Fiordiligi finally succumbs and falls into his arms. Guglielmo is distraught while Ferrando turns Guglielmo's earlier gloating back on him. Alfonso, winner of the wager, tells the men to forgive their fiancées. After all: "Così fan tutte"—"All women are like that".

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Scene 4

The scene begins as a double wedding for the sisters and their "Albanian" grooms. Despina, in disguise as a notary, presents the marriage contract, which only the ladies sign. (The men, of course, realise that this wedding is a sham, and are only playing along with it in order to teach their unfaithful lovers a lesson.) Directly thereafter, military music is heard in the distance, indicating the return of the officers. Alfonso confirms the sisters' fears: Ferrando and Guglielmo are on their way to the house. The "Albanians" hurry off to hide (actually, to change out of their disguises). They return as the officers, professing their love. Alfonso drops the marriage contract in front of the officers, and, when they read it, they become enraged. They then depart and return moments later, half in Albanian disguise, half as officers. Despina has been revealed to be the notary, and the sisters realize they have been duped. All is ultimately forgiven, as the entire group praises the ability to accept life's unavoidable good times and bad times.