Mozart's 'marriage'

This weekend, he is leaving the singing to others and, in his anticipated American directing debut, is stepping behind the scenes to guide the action with Arizona Opera.

"It's a brilliant play. It's brilliantly set to music," Allen explained, his melodic British accent quiet against the clatter of actors preparing to break during one of the production's early rehearsals last week.

"The brilliance of the construction of the piece — you marvel at that. You marvel at the language of the piece. . . . It's just an astonishing piece of work," he said.

"He's great. I think the man knows the entire opera from memory. My part. Susanna's part. The Count's part," said mezzo-soprano Patricia Risley, who plays the pants role of Cherubino. "And he comes with such joy. He loves Mozart."

At that rehearsal, Allen sat at a table a few feet from the staging area in Arizona Opera's cramped warehouse on North Mountain Avenue. A big square of the warehouse floor is marked off for the staging area, situated in the middle of aisles of premade sets, furniture and other props. Pieces of set staging — wooden cutouts of cherubic settings and the like — are tucked into rafters in the raised ceiling. It is the perfect mix of chaos and organized clutter, but no one seemed to notice, least of all Allen.

His full attention was on Christian Van Horn and Lisa Saffer — who will alternate in the roles of Figaro and Susanna (the pair will take the roles in tonight's opening and on Sunday). They were in the middle of the opening scene in Act 1 — Figaro leads Susanna to their bed, and the pair dream aloud about their wedding — when Allen bolted from his chair.

He had a suggestion, he told them. Why not make the scene in which Figaro rolls Susanna onto her back sexier. Maybe they should kiss.

"It would be wonderful if we had some purring," Allen suggested, and Van Horn and Saffer agreed to give it a shot.

Allen had a suggestion for nearly every scene, honing in on small details that bring characters to life, give reason for their actions and convey emotions beyond the language and music.

He suggests to Risley that Cherubino look surprised at seeing the Countess' ribbon in Susanna's hands before he yanks it from her and runs across the room. Bartolo (French bass-baritone Francois Loup) should be conniving when he vows to help Marcellina force Figaro to keep his promise to wed her instead of Susanna. Loup suggests, in turn, that he should cock his eye in a way that is funnier than Allen imagined, judging from his enthusiastic response.

One by one, character by character, Allen chimes in. His suggestions are mostly subtle, but all prove to be effective in bringing out the comedy of Mozart's beloved opera.

"The detail work that Tom Allen has done with characterization and 18th-century mores, and what is proper and what isn't proper . . . ," gushed Joel Revzen, Arizona Opera's artistic and general director who is conducting "The Marriage of Figaro." "This is like a master class."

Revzen is the one who asked Allen to make his American directing debut with Arizona Opera. The pair met during Revzen's tenure at New York's Metropolitan Opera. A couple years and phone calls later brought Allen to Arizona.

Allen is new to directing, but his celebrated singing career, all those years spent on all those stages in every conceivable role, was not lost on the cast.

"Oh, my God! It's such an opportunity to work with him," said Risley, whose husband, baritone Keith Phares, alternates in the role of the Count. "Just bringing his years of experience with this opera to our production, it's just amazing. It's interesting to see his take on the Count, and then the Count's take on every other character."

Those are big compliments from Risley, who has performed Cherubino under such celebrated directors as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Stephen Lord and the acclaimed British conductor Jane Glover.

● "The Marriage of Figaro"

By: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Libretto by: Lorenzo da Ponte

Presented by: Arizona Opera.

Conducted by: Joel Revzen.

Stage director: Sir Thomas Allen.

When: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Tucson Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave.

Tickets: $25-$100 through Ticketmaster, 321-1000.

Running time: 3 hours.

Cast: Christian Van Horn and Nathan Berg alternate in the role of Figaro; Lisa Saffer and Mary Wilson alternate in the role of Susanna. Patricia Risley is Cherubino in all performances.

Look for: The review in Sunday's Accent.

Synopsis: The Count Almaviva's marriage to Rosine has taken a trip to the dark side, thanks to his wandering eye. Figaro, the count's major-domo, is engaged to Susanna, Rosine's maid and the woman the count currently has his eye on. Enter Bartolo, who is more than a tad annoyed that Figaro has won Rosine's heart, and he wants revenge. The craziness begins.