By Lookout Staff
May 16, 2025 -- The Santa Monica College (SMC) Music Department next week will present a 239-year-old box office hit that weathered a stormy opening and years of censorship to become a timeless classic.
The fully staged production of "The Marriage of Figaro" ("Le nozze di Figaro") by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be performed by the SMC Opera Theatre and the SMC Symphony Orchestra next weekend.
The performances will be held on Friday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. in The Eli & Edythe Broad Stage at the SMC Performing Arts Center at 11th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.
Premiered in Vienna on May 1, 1786, "the opera highlights the intelligence and wit of servants, while portraying a Count in a less than noble way," said Janelle DeStefano, co-director of the SMC Opera Theatre.
"It was a time of great change, when audiences were ready for a new look at society," DeStefano said. "The extra surprise that came with Mozart’s opera was its incredibly delightful and masterful score."
The premiere, however, proved a rocky start with hired hecklers trying to disrupt the performance, according to the review in newspaper Wiener Realzeitung.
The public "did not really know on the first day where it stood. It heard many a bravo from unbiased connoisseurs, but obstreperous louts in the uppermost storey exerted their hired lungs with all their might to deafen singers and audience alike."
Soon, the tunes were being hummed, sung and whistled on the streets and the opera became a hit even with the aristocracy it poked fun of.
"The Marriage of Figaro tells the story of servants Figaro and Susanna, who join forces with the Countess to get her philandering count to stop making passes at Susanna and re-experience the beauty of his own wife," event organizers said.
"Known for its witty dialogue, beautiful music, and exploration of social dynamics between classes, The Marriage of Figaro is a treasured favorite in the world of opera."
The Marriage of Figaro will be performed in Italian with English supertitles. SMC Opera Theatre is under the direction of Janelle DeStefano and Mercedes Juan Musotto, with Musical Coach Sky Lee and Costume Designer Marianne Parker.
Tickets are $25 general admission (plus a modest service charge), $10 for students and staff. Advance tickets can be purchased online at smc.edu/tickets or by calling 310-434-3005 (Monday-Friday; limited hours).
Tickets may also be purchased -- starting 45 minutes before the performance begins -- at The Broad Stage Box Office at the SMC Performing Arts Center. Free parking on premises. Seating is strictly on a first-arrival basis.
