[ ON STAGE ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@ STARBULLETIN.COM
Yali-Marie Williams, left, as Fiordiligi, Steven Condy as Don Alfonso and Ning Liang as Dorabella in a dress rehearsal of Hawaii Opera Theatre's production of "Cosi Fan Tutte" at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.
‘Cosi Fan Tutte’
opens tonight
It's the logistics of touring that are the hardest part of being a single parent, mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman explained as we chatted at Kahala Mall late Tuesday afternoon.
Guzman opens tonight in Hawaii Opera Theatre's production of Mozart's "Cosi fan Tutte," and although the official purpose of our get-together was to talk about the show, our conversation also touched on the subtleties of language and dialect, Mexican-American filmmakers, the off-stage camaraderie among local performers that exists in Hawaii and the challenges involved in juggling career demands with being the mother of an 11-year-old son.
Suzanna Guzman
Hawaii Opera Theatre presents "Cosi fan Tutte"
has key roleWhere: Blaisdell Concert Hall
When: 8 p.m. today, 4 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
Tickets: $29 to $100
Call: 596-7858
"I'm lucky I have an extended family in Los Angeles to take care of my son when I'm away, because my ex-husband lives in New York, so it's not an option. He just started middle school and he doesn't like to be away from his friends," Guzman said, explaining that her son Conor is too old now to live out of a suitcase for an extended period of time with no one his own age to relate to. She home-schooled him for several years, but now he spends most of his time in L.A., and Guzman limits her engagements to the United States.
"Europe is 12 hours away and that's too far," she said, explaining that she is busy enough even without accepting European dates.
Conor flew over from L.A. on Wednesday to spend a few days with his mom -- kayaking, snorkeling, and visiting Iolani Palace are on the schedule -- before "Cosi fan Tutte" opens tonight. Guzman plays Despina, a ladies' maid who finds herself caught in the middle when the women she works for become pawns in a wager made by their boyfriends with a cynical bachelor.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@ STARBULLETIN.COM
Singer Suzanne Guzman as Despina in "Cosi Fan Tutte."
The bachelor, Don Alfonso, claims that women are by nature fickle and flighty (the title translates as "They're all like that") and he bets his friends Ferrando and Guglielmo 100 gold pieces that their fiancées, the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi, will cheat on them if given the opportunity. The two men take the bet, inform their significant others that they're going off to war, and then return cleverly disguised as handsome Albanian playboys.
The sisters start off playing a good game in defending their virtue, but eventually fall for the two romantic strangers. Or so it seems, as the two duplicitous men get tangled in their own conspiracy and discover that they, too, are subject to the whims of love.
HOT's production also stars Steven Condy (Don Alfonso) George Dyer (Ferrando), Christopheren Nomura (Guglielmo), Ning Liang (Dorabella) and Yali-Marie Williams (Fiordiligi).
"People ask how we can pretend that someone can become unrecognizable just by putting on a hat or changing clothes, but I've seen it happen," Guzman said, addressing the oft-cited objection to that frequently used plot device.
She explains that the friends of someone she was working with convinced the man's wife to come into the theater wearing a wig and a miniskirt in place of her usual attire "and we could see he was checking her out."
WHILE THERE is a copious amount of romantic deception in Mozart's opera, Guzman's life away from the stage is pretty much straightforward. Take the renovation of her L.A. home.
Guzman found she "inherited" a wealth of building supplies that the old owners had carefully stockpiled just in case repairs were necessary. With the assistance of professional contractors and craftsmen, she's been learning how to do everything from replacing screens to mixing and applying stucco.
There were also stacks of old magazines -- Life, National Geographic, Saturday Evening Post, etc. -- all stacked carefully in chronological order, issues dating back from the late-1940s through the mid-'80s.
"My son's going to sell some of them on eBay this summer. I think it's a great way for him to make some money -- or maybe start saving for his first car."
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