Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which is known as “the greatest comic opera of all,” will be presented at ETSU this month.
Performances in English by the ETSU Opera Theatre will take place Saturday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 25, at 2 p.m. in the Bud Frank Theatre on the first floor of Gilbreath Hall.
The Marriage of Figaro was first performed at the Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna on May 1, 1786, and remains one of the top 10 most-produced operas in North America and German-speaking countries.
ETSU’s production is an abridged, contemporary version with dialogue and a faster, easier-to-follow plot than the traditional work.
The story contained within the opera takes place within 24 hours, a concept borrowed by the creators of FOX’s hit television series, 24, according to Dr. Oliver Lo, ETSU assistant professor of music and director of the Opera Theatre. Figaro and Susanna, servants of the Count and Countess Almaviva, are getting married, but the count wishes to execute his droit du seigneur (the practice of the “right of the lord,” in which the master has the right to share the bed with the maid on the night of her wedding). Figaro and Susanna work with the Countess to thwart the Count’s plans.
Major principals of the cast include Sara Beth Brimer, Greeneville, as Susanna, and Jacob Cook, Erica Robinson and John Williams, all of Elizabethton, as Figaro, the Countess and the Count, respectively.
Other cast members include Candra Savage, Jonesborough, as Cherubino; Andrea Childress, Elizabethton, as Marcellina; Bristol’s Lane Blevins as Dr. Bartolo and Zach Marshall as Don Basilio; Chris Fitzwater, Kingsport, as Don Curzio; Jody Dean Smith, Lamesa, Texas, as Antonio; and Priya Paranthaman, Big Stone Gap, Va., as Barbarina.
Admission is $10 for the general public and $5 for students and senior citizens. Reservations are recommended.
For reservations, more information or special assistance for those with disabilities, call Linda Reid at (423) 439-4270.

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