Music
Amy Grable (Susanna) and Valerian Ruminski (Figaro), who sing the leads in Nickel City Opera's The Marriage of Figaro. Photo by Sarah Wintle.
Amy Grable (Susanna) and Valerian Ruminski (Figaro), who sing the leads in Nickel City Opera's The Marriage of Figaro. Photo by Sarah Wintle.

Nickel City Opera: Love, Politics, and Figaro

by / Jun. 24, 2015 1am EST

Say you are sitting in the Riviera Theater this coming Friday, June 26 at 7:30pm and/or Sunday, June 28 at 2:30pm, and in the seat next to you is Nickel City Opera’s Valerian Ruminski, who is also in front of you singing the title role in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. He whispers in your ear what you ought to listen and watch for, as he and the rest of the cast perform this timeless piece of musical theater.

This, according to Ruminski, is what he’d whisper to you:

“I once heard a panel on a Metropolitan Opera broadcast say that the composer that made nearly all of them cry was Puccini, hands down. I agree: Puccini has the lion’s share. But then there is Mozart. There are his three great operas: Don GiovanniCosi fan tutte, and La nozze di FigaroThe Marriage of Figaro. The first one has a dark aura; the second is a light comedy that turns serious at the end. But Figaro inches out by a nose Giovanni as Mozart’s greatest of the trio because Figaro hits on so many other levels. What I would say to the person is that you are seeing genius; you’re seeing a filter of life and humanity.

“Especially moving is, by the end of opera, the pardon of Figaro by his betrothed, Susanna. In the music—and the suffusion of the crazy day as it comes to a close with that beautiful music—I have a hard time not crying on stage as Figaro; there are so many layers that make it emotional.

“And there is a whole socio-political side of it, especially today. We’re in a polarized society, and this opera is all about the rich and the poor. The French newspaper Le Figaro: It is named for this character. Some say that Figaro was one of the progenitors of the French Revolution. It was the people saying, ‘No more! Just because someone is born to the rich doesn’t mean he is worth more than me.’ And that is what Figaro stands for. You can’t take the politics out of Figaro. You can call it a sex-farce, but in the end it is also a class battle of the poor against the rich.

“Like Salieri, in the movie Amadeus, when he is looking at that sheet music, and it just drops out of his hands. He couldn’t fathom that he was looking at this latticework of perfection. So what I would say to that listener: ‘Be open to it; step out of your regular life and, when you sit down in your seat for three hours, let it wash over you.’”

The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. For tickets, call 692-2413.

The Marriage of Figaro
June 26, 7:30pm / June 28, 2pm

Riviera Theater, 67 Webster Street, 692-2413, $20-$59

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