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Its a watchthis flourish in a show thats full of them.
If we are sad for the countess, its because we stand in awe of the larynx.
Virtuosity abounds and extends into the ensemble.
Costanzo may be theKathy Seldon to their Lina Lamonts, but theyre nobodys puppets.
Their bodiesand, ultimately, their own voicesare just as crucial to the project as his.
This breadth and depth of creative vitality is what keeps the core concept from feeling like a party trick.
Trap doors and rollaway sections of floor reveal lights, curtains, furniture, instruments, and people.
Every climax one-ups itself; every metatheatrical break breaks again.
ThisFigaros muchness is, more than anything else, ecstatically playful.
A spotlight catches Costanzo like a burglar in an old movie.
But in all the chaos, theres no confusion.
Or magicians, I should say.
Theres a delicate act of transference happening, a gift being given, and given doubly.
If Liu is a conduit, so too, in some ineffable sense, is Costanzo.
The Marriage of Figarois at Little Island through September 22.
