Così Re-imagined
Mozart’s School for Lovers meets Wolf of Wall Street meets Clueless!
Love … loyalty … deception… and a £200K bet!
Rogue Opera’s reimagining of Così fan tutte - “All women are unfaithful” - by Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte - brings a modern perspective to this classic comic opera’s dynamics of love, loyalty and deception.
With the dazzling arias and ensembles sung in Italian, a new English script in place of the recitative, fresh dramatic interpretations and some creative cuts, Rogue Opera updates the twists and farcical set-ups in a joyful homage to the original opera.
Rogue Opera’s Così fan tutte is set in a modern-day New York City of bankers and socialites, where wealth and excesses – a flamboyant fusion of The Wolf of Wall Street, Clueless and Gossip Girl – spawn extravagant lifestyles, cynical manipulations and ridiculous bets. Appearances and the pursuit of status overshadow genuine connection, creating the perfect setting for this humorous dramatic exploration of trust, attraction, desire, temptation and human fallibility.
Don Alfonso is a jaded and misogynistic trader who bets his underlings, brothers Ferrando and Guglielmo, that all women will cheat and proposes a convoluted scheme as part of the wager. The stylish sisters, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, creators of the Fiorabella Lifestyle brand, prioritise their social status and optics over deeper relationships. Their personal assistant, Despina, frustrated with the couples’ clichéd and saccharine views on love, initially participates in the scheme for financial gain. As the comedy turns darker, the sisters are motivated by the temptation of making a splash at the famous Met Gala, while the stakes are raised for the brothers with a doubling down on the bet and the need to impress their boss. As Don Alfonso’s manipulations become more extreme, Despina encourages the sisters to examine their desires and motivations and finally takes back control, schooling all four lovers to look beyond societal expectations and be true to themselves.
Characters
Dorabella and Fiordiligi
Fashionista sisters and founders of FioraBella Lifestyle
Despina
The sister's PA
Ferrando and Guglielmo
Brothers and financial traders
Don Alfonso
The brothers’ boss
Dorabella and Ferrando are an item, as are Fiordiligi and Guglielmo
ACT ONE
SCENE 1
A Friday afternoon in NYC. Don Alfonso, a multi-millionaire trader, celebrates a big trade with his juniors, brothers Ferrando and Guglielmo, during a liquid lunch. Bored, Don Alfonso proposes a bet: he can prove in 24 hours that their girlfriends, the fashionable sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi, creators of the FioraBella Lifestyle brand, are like all women and will cheat at the first opportunity.
Over a delightful trio of trios, the brothers espouse their girlfriends' beauty and fidelity while Don Alfonso argues female fidelity is as rare as the phoenix. Ferrando and Guglielmo insist the sisters are the exception and make the bet, confident of the power of their love and gleefully anticipating spending their winnings.
SCENE 2
Dorabella and Fiordiligi return to the Upper East side apartment after another shopping trip and sing a delightful duet, Ah! Guarda sorella, praising their boyfriends' good looks. However, their mood is soured when Don Alfonso arrives with bad news: the brothers are being sent on secondment to a distant office, effective immediately. Dorabella and Fiordiligi lament the imminent departure of the brothers, who claim they have no choice.
The four lovers bid a heart-broken farewell, with Don Alfonso finding their protestations of devotion amusing. Don Alfonso, Dorabella, and Fiordiligi wish the brothers a safe journey in the beautiful trio Soave sia il vento, before the sisters retire to their room to process this disastrous turn of events and what it will mean for their very important red-carpet event the next night.
Don Alfonso decides to secure the assistance of the sister’s PA, Despina, after overhearing her rather cynical view of men and belief that women should look out for themselves in life and love (Una Donna). With the assistance of a hefty bribe, Don Alfonso co-opts Despina into his scheme, which she refines with a few key details. In the high energy sextet, Alla bella Despinetta, the brothers are re-introduced in disguise as “Canadians” and the sisters are encouraged to help them find their feet in New York.
Indignant at the incredibly cheesy and inappropriate advances of the “Canadians”, Fiordiligi sings of the sisters' steadfast love (Come Scoglio), claiming any attempt to seduce them is pointless. The brothers remain convinced of their girlfriends' fidelity, and Ferrando celebrates the sustaining power of love with the beautiful aria Un’aura amorosa.
SCENE 3
As Act 1 nears its finale, Fiordiligi and Dorabella lament their sudden abandonment by Ferrando and Guglielmo, and the disruption of their weekend plans. When Don Alfonso turns up again with the two drunken "Canadians", Dorabella and Fiordiligi are somewhat moved by their sorry state and the need to keep them out of the public eye, although still outraged at Don Alfonso for creating the predicament. The stakes are raised when suddenly “Anna” (Despina in disguise) arrives to discuss the sisters' invitation to the Met Gala. She presents a solution – the “Canadians” will be part of a PR stunt for the red carpet with the FioraBella sisters, involving some outlandish styling. The brothers join in with gusto, and the sisters reluctantly play along. Just when it appears that the scheme is working, Ferrando and Guglielmo take it too, far demanding a kiss from the sisters. Fired up with righteous indignation, Dorabella and Fiordiligi reject the men and PR stunt. This display convinces Ferrando and Guglielmo that they have won their bet, although Despina assures Don Alfonso that she will earn her money and will still be able to convince the sisters to change their minds.
ACT TWO
SCENE 4
The next day, inside the sisters’ apartment. Dorabella is still taken with the idea of making a splash at the Met Gala; Fiordiligi is hesitant. Despina, fulfilling her part of the scheme but also reflecting her deeply held beliefs, tells them, in Una donna a quindici anni, that women must use their wiles to make their way in the world and, more importantly, enjoy doing it! Spurred on by this sentiment, Dorabella persuades Fiordiligi that a little flirtation is harmless, and they choose which “Canadian” should pair with which sister, in their playful duet Prenderò quell brunettino.
SCENE 5
In a hotel suite near the Met, where the couples are getting ready for the PR red carpet moment. Don Alfonso and Despina endeavour to smooth over the awkward feelings left by the last encounter between the sisters and the over-amorous "Canadians", with a warning to the men not to sabotage the wager with any more overacting. Left alone with Dorabella, Guglielmo charms her with the gift of a heart-shaped locket and successfully woos her in Il core vi dono.
Fiordiligi is surprised by the connection and attraction she is developing for Ferrando’s “Canadian” and reproaches herself fiercely for her feelings, a stark contrast to Dorabella who delights in the sheer naughtiness of it all in Amore e un ladroncello. Confident in Fiordiligi's love for him, but a little cocky at having seduced Dorabella, Guglielmo tries to soften the blow for Ferrando by describing women as lovable but fickle. Ferrando rages at Dorabella’s betrayal while still wrestling with his feeling for her. Determined not to lose the bet on his own, Ferrando doesn’t hold back in wooing a despondent Fiordiligi, who succumbs to him in the poignant duet Fra gli amplessi.
As the brothers glumly reflect on their losses, Don Alfonso gleefully proposes that he sees no reason for the sisters' infidelity to cut across the brothers' original plans for marriage – after all, that's just how women are. He doubles down on the bet, offering the brothers a chance to win back their money if they can get the sisters to accept their marriage proposals that night, using the fact of the sisters’ betrayals as a cruel leverage. Despina overhears this plan and decides the farce and manipulations have gone on long enough and determines to turn the tables on the men (an update we believe Mozart, a great lover of strong women in life and art, would have embraced as a fitting re-imagining of the original marriage and denouement!)
FINALE
As Despina and Don Alfonso prepare the couples for their grand Met Gala entrance, Despina quietly reveals the deception to the sisters and urges them to play along for a little longer.
Despite the undercurrents of unease and deceit, Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Ferrando and Guglielmo go through the motions, posing for photos and toasting one another. Tension builds as the pretence begins to crumble and Don Alfonso briefly enjoys the moment of exposing betrayals and revealing the “Canadians” as Ferrando and Guglielmo. The women profess an exaggerated regret, seeing how far the men will go with their manipulations. As the brothers drop to their knees to propose, Dorabella, Fiordiligi and Despina reveal their knowledge and disgust at the trickery. Rejecting the farcical offer of marriage, the sisters take control for the first time.
The opera ends with the upbeat advice to look on the bright side of life.