The Marriage of Figaro is Mozart’s most beloved opera, surpassing even Don Giovanni on the popularity charts these days: By the middle of March, it will have been produced by no less than four Bay Area companies. In San Francisco, Goat Hall Productions’ take on Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte’s 18th-century musical comedy aims to render the work even more approachable. The story involves the romantic machinations of Spanish aristocrats and their underlings; making the most of the plot’s many chatty, fourth-wall–eschewing asides, the company stages the work in an intimate cabaret setting complete with aisle-hopping cast members. Clad in 18th-century-style wigs, gowns, and breeches, they regale audiences not only with singing but also by serving pink champagne and desserts to those at the ringside tables and chairs.
March 6-8, 8 p.m., 2009
