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Florida Grand Opera opens its 81st season with a loving tribute to the vibrant South Florida Latin and Hispanic communities — Domenico Cimarosa and Giovanni Bertati’s 1792 comedy El matrimonio secreto (The Secret Marriage).
Crystal Manich’s production is updated to 1980s South Beach in the family-run Hotel Paraiso, and performed in “South Floridian Spanish” in a new translation by Darwin Aquino and Benedetta Orsi. El matrimonio secreto is new to the FGO stage.
Based on the 1766 play The Clandestine Marriage by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick, the updated plot centers around Geronimo, a successful Cuban businessman who is ready to see his daughters, Elisetta and Carolina, comfortably and prestigiously married. However, Carolina has been secretly wed to his employee Paolino for two months, and the young couple hasn’t found the courage to confess to Papa.
In the hopes of mitigating Geronimo’s inevitable fury, Paolino is frantically attempting to arrange a marriage contract between the wealthy Count Robinson and Elisetta, the older sister. Matters become even more complicated when Geronimo’s widowed sister Fidalma decides Paolino should be her next husband, and Elisetta’s erstwhile suitor Count Robinson prefers Carolina and is willing to discount her dowry by half to get her — an offer Geronimo can’t refuse. Family drama, hilarious misunderstandings, and an eventual happy resolution ensue.
“I was sitting in this hair salon watching a group of Cuban-American women in a bridal party prepare. They were having some bubbly and a good time — but the sibling rivalry was apparent. One of the ladies in the wedding party had a bigger diamond than the bride.
At some point, the bride realized that some in the bridal party were perhaps more attractive than she was on her big day. The sibling rivalry just really clued me in to the idea of making Matrimonio a Miami story,” said Susan T. Danis, FGO general director and CEO.
“El matrimonio secreto is really the ultimate ode to Miami. Miami’s fashion and Miami Beach lifestyle are so iconic, and this opera is the personification of the 1980s. This show is a wonderful story about the people of Miami,” Danis added.
With a six-person ensemble cast and no chorus, Cimarosa’s most famous opera resembles the works of his contemporary, Mozart, in more ways than one. The score could be mistaken for Mozart by the layman. While Il matrimonio segreto (to give its Italian title) is Cimarosa’s only opera to have survived as part of the canon, it was so successful at its 1792 premiere at Vienna’s Imperial Hofburg Theatre before Emperor Leopold II that he ordered dinner to be served and the entire opera repeated immediately thereafter. Today, it is widely considered to be a link between the comic works of Mozart and Rossini or Donizetti.
In the role of Carolina, who has naughtily married behind her father’s back, Metropolitan Opera soprano Vanessa Bercerra makes her house debut. Of Peruvian and Mexican-American descent, this rising star is enjoying a season packed with appearances across the US. Second-year Studio Artist Page Michels, fresh from a concert at the Aspen Music Festival, will assume the role for Sunday matinees.
Miami soprano and FGO favorite Catalina Cuervo returns in the role of the witty oldest daughter, Elisetta. Cuervo, known as “The Fiery Soprano,” last appeared in FGO’s 2022 Zarzuela concert, and to great acclaim in the title role of 2019’s Frida. First-year Studio Artist and native of Wesley Chapel, FL, soprano Ashley Shalna, will make her FGO debut as Elisetta in the Sunday matinee performance. The role of Fidalma, who has her own designs on her niece’s secret husband, will be taken by first-year Studio Artist, mezzo-soprano Erin Alford, at the Sunday matinee. First-year Studio Artist, tenor Joseph McBrayer, makes his debut as the lovestruck Paolino, secret husband of Carolina. Successful Cuban hotelier and doting papa Geronimo is played by baritone Phillip Lopez, a first-year Studio Artist who recently premieredThumbprint by Kamala Sankaram at Chautauqua Opera. The role of the cocky Count Robinson will be assumed by baritone Michael Pandolfo, who returns to the FGO stage after his 2021-22 season as a Studio Artist.
El matrimonio secreto will be directed by Miami resident Elena Araoz and conducted by Argentian conductor and composer Darwin Aquino. The new production is by FGO, with set design by Lindsay Fuori, costumes by FGO’s own Darío Almirón, and lighting by Stevie Agnew.
The production runs from Nov. 12 to 15 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Performance times are Nov. 12, 7 p.m.; Nov. 13, 2 p.m.; Nov. 15, 8 p.m.
Tickets begin at $18 and are available at fgo.org or by calling the ticket office at 800-741-1010.
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