Arts and Entertainment Coney Island

Met Opera sails to Coney Island

March 16, 2018 By John Manbeck Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
A scene from Act I of Mozart's "Così fan tutte. " Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
A scene from Act I of Mozart's "Così fan tutte. " Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
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As spring lurks around Brooklyn’s snow filled streets, thoughts of warmer weather remind us of the coming summer and the beach. The opening of Coney Island’s beach has been led since 1980 by the unofficial mayor of the amusement area, Dick Zigun, who created Coney Island Circus Sideshow.

While his Mermaid Parade smacks of the tawdry seaside, now his time-honored show is about to be infused with the higher art of opera. Or more like: opera is integrating the Coney sideshow business into a libretto.

“Cosi fan tutte,” which opened at The Metropolitan Opera on March 15, will introduce Coney Island sideshow stars to their roster (in non-singing roles). The two-act opera with music written by a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1790 is a comic tale of boy-girl games that test the fidelity of the sexes. Themes about power and society fill the substrata of the opera.

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If Mozart can be in the city, why can‘t he be by the beautiful sea in Coney Island?

The translation of the Italian title is “Women act like that,” or “School for Lovers.” The plot posits that all women are unfaithful. Don Alfonso, a cynical and wily philosopher, intends to prove the adage and win a bet by testing two couples. To help his scheme, he enlists the aid and devices of a maid, Despina, who encourages the girls to have fun.

Once the risque plot (for its time) is set, the action moves with disguises and dissemblance as the characters shift to a waterfront resort in the second act. In the original, the setting is by the Bay of Naples; in 2018, Coney Island enters as an understudy blending classical opera with high camp.

A carney funhouse atmosphere permeates the set with poster curtains on the boardwalk advertising side show acts. Among the walk-ons and backdrops are bearded ladies, contortionists, tattooed youths, a swan boat, a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel and fireworks.

Genuine Coney Island performers are making their Met debuts. Zoe Ziegfeld, a snake charmer, will appear with her Burmese python; the sword swallowing team of Betty Bloomerz and Ray Valenz; Sage Sovereign, not only a fire eater but also an opera aficionado.

Then there will be the less dangerous but nonetheless fantastic acts: contortionists Anna Venizelos and Leo, The Human Gumby; Cristina Pitter, a bearded lady; and the strongman, Titano. Pitter reported that she was “excited about the use of real sideshow athletes.”

According to the Met, Ziegfeld combines her act with a love of dancing and admiration for opera. She maintains that opera and sideshows are “larger than life and remind you of the magic of the world.” Bloomerz holds the unofficial record for the longest sword swallowed by a female and even stands on Valenz’ shoulders upside down while he swallows a sword.

Sage, who Zigun supports as “a wonderful fire eater,” wanted to perform at the Met since she was six years old, but as a singer. Now she sees fire eating as a performance in which she tells a story. At the Met she can reach a new audience. So, step right up!

Zigun, who is not a big opera fan but has written rock operas, appreciates the merge of the arts. “I think the whole thing is a hoot that blurs the lines with high and low art forms,” he wrote to me. “It’s all art!” After their operatic gig, the performance artists will return to their Coney home base in late April.

Other departures are in the time frame and the casting. Don Alphonso is sung by Christopher Maltman from the Met company, but the spunky Despina is sung by the Tony winning Broadway star, Kelli O’Hara, who has had operatic training and debuted in The Merry Widow in 2015. She will sing in Italian. The time frame has moved the action from the 18th century parlor to the 1950s and Despina who works at the Skyline Motel across from a Steeplechase/Luna Park-like Pleasure Gardens.

Encouraged by the instigator, Alphonso, the two young men, about to leave for war, feel this is the best time to test their fiancées’ fidelity and, at the same time, win a wager. So, they disguise themselves as carny workers and flirt with their opposite mates. At first, they fail. To stir up trouble, Alphonso suggests the men “poison” themselves while Despina disguises herself as Dr. Magnetico. The cure: kisses from the sisters. Then it’s off to the races.

But the conclusion is just as confusing as the rest of the plot. They all marry but to whom?

This is not the first time opera has strayed from its original setting. In 2004, the “Cosi” set was an enlarged camera obscura, a room with a periscope-like device to reflect a scene outside. This device could also be found at Victorian amusement parks such as Coney Island and had been developed in ancient Egypt.

Another Met production in 2013, “Rigoletto,” changed the setting from the royal court in Mantua, Italy, to a Las Vegas casino in 1960. This switch encouraged the “Cosi” director, Phelim McDermott, to take exceptions. These alterations demonstrate the resiliency of opera because the music and lyrics remain the same.

History tells us that classical music had a previous alliance with Coney Island. In the 1890s, Anton Seidl, the Hungarian conductor of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, led his orchestra and singers to rousing popular acclaim at summer concerts in the 3000 seat Brighton Beach Shed behind the Brighton Beach Hotel. He introduced Brooklyn masses to opera by the sea.

 

 


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