User Reviews

Marriage of Figaro(or Le Nozze Di Figaro) is one of my favourite operas. This 1985 Met production is great, like a vast majority of Met productions, but for productions I prefer the 1975 film and the 1993 and 1994 productions. The costumes and sets are nice and traditional, Acts 1 and 2 are kept simple and for the better while the garden set and big dresses and jackets are beautiful and sumptuous. Picture quality and sound are mostly very good if sometimes a tad muffled in the sound toward the end of act 1, same with the video directing. The music is wonderful with too many highlights to count, and performed with great style by the ever reliable orchestra and James Levine conducts with brisk precision. The cast are wonderful. Ruggero Raimondi is terrific as Figaro, handsome and hearty with a fine voice and showing once again how extraordinary an actor he is, while Kathaleen Battle is a charming Susanna, Carol Vaness a touching Countess and Frederica Von Stade looking good in trousers while singing like a nightingale and acting with allure. Also there is Thomas Allen as the Count, he is menace and arrogance personified to the max. Basilio, Barbarina, Marcellina, Bartolo and Antonio also perform with no problems. All in all, a great Figaro. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I have watched many versions of this opera but love none so much as this one. I am very sad that the Met sells it only in a large box of stuff I don't want for an a price too large to justify just the purchase of this beautiful gem. I think they did it on purpose to induce people to by stuff they would otherwise never purchase. I have to make do with scraps on youtube.com. The staging as well as the joyful acting and beautiful singing make this a paradise. I know many do not like Kathleen Battle or her problems that caused her to be dropped, but here is a perfect cast, Count Almaviva by Thomas Allen, Frederika von Stade as Cherubino, Ruggier Raimondi as Figaro and Carol Van Ness as the Countess...truly a cast to sigh over. The settings are done with such beauty and care - it is a feast for the eyes as well as the ears.