Thread: Most Absurd Plot

Originally Posted by marceliotstein

At the risk of stating the obvious, we can't leave out the near-fatal flaw in the three great Mozart/Da Ponte operas: the idea that people can put on a disguise and become unrecognizable (even at seduction-level close-up) to the people who know them best. It just seems like this would be really hard to pull off in the real world. Maybe candlelight made it easier.

Don Giovanni and Nozze have the excuse that the disguise scenes take place at night in places where there is little light. I think the Nozze is fine (I've seen productions where the characters wear masks and have cloaks with hoods) as the Count has no reason to think that the woman hidding in the dark in his wife's clothes is anyone other than Susanna. The Don Giovanni scenes are a bit more complex, but when I played Leporello we made sure that Donna Elvira never saw his face. However the scene will be as convincing as how similar the singers cast as Giovanni and Leporello are to each other.

When it comes to Cosi, it really does stretch anyone's imagination, nor can I see a way that a director can get around it. It's not as if you can make Fiordiligi and Dorabella blind!

N.

La Sonnambula has a remarkably thin story - the music is gorgeous all the same

There's also Amelia's very see-through veil and the fact her own husband can't recognize her. Has he never seen her coat? I know it's pitch black and away from the the city lights but come on.

Maybe Renato just has terrible eyesight XD