Mozarts Rake
Seductive, witty, exuberant.
Ruthless, unscrupulous.
A murderer and a rapist.
Doomed to hell perhaps but even there (as George Bernard Shaw realized), Mozarts fascinating scoundrel would likely be one of its liveliest and most provocative tenants.

DON GIOVANNI
Sung in Italian. Opens February 11, 2004, with performances also on February 14, 20, 22 (matinee), 25 and 28. Click on cast names below to see on which dates each is singing.
Don Giovanni ............................
Donna Anna ..............................
Don Ottavio ..............................
Commendatore .........................
Donna Elvira .............................
Leporello ..................................
Masetto ...................................
Zerlina ......................................

Pianists ....................................
Stage Manager .........................
Crew.........................................

Vladimir Radian
Karin Fairbairn / Angela Di Serio
William Parker / Michael Sugrue
Frank de Jong / John Allin
Ren Kennedy / Niki McNeil
Gerald Hannon
Amos Clark / Mel Nicosia
Anna Bateman / Tonia Cianciulli

Adolfo De Santis / Katia Lebedeva
Kate McKay
Gabriel Graziano, Rob Boak, Robert Balogh


Chorus: John Allec, Igor Bily, Catherine Cashore, Sunny Cheung, Tita Griffin, Ayse Kinnaird, Chris Lea, Sharon MacDonald, Susan MacRae, Cheryl Martin, James Matthews, Grazyna Matusiewicz, Eileen Mercier, Rosemarie Ryan, George Seppenwoolde, Yvette Sherman, Jane Somerville, Elizabeth Stephenson, Barbara Thomson, Jennifer Ujimoto.
Mozarts opera which some critics claim to be the greatest ever written premiered in Prague on the 29th of October, 1787. With a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (who took advice from an ageing Casanova, then working as a librarian for a nobleman in Prague), the work was an instant success. It has since earned a permanent place in the repertoire of opera houses around the world.
The Story
ACT I: Seville, 1600s. At night, outside the Commendatores palace, Leporello grumbles about his duties as servant to Don Giovanni, a dissolute nobleman. Soon the masked Don appears, pursued by Donna Anna, the Commendatores daughter, whom he has attempted to rape. When the Commendatore himself answers Annas cries, he is killed in a duel by Giovanni, who escapes. Anna now returns with her fiancé, Don Ottavio. Finding her father dead, she makes Ottavio swear vengeance on the assassin.

At dawn, Giovanni flirts with a high-strung traveler outside a tavern. She turns out to be Donna Elvira, a woman he once seduced in Burgos, who is on his trail. Giovanni escapes while Leporello distracts Elvira by reciting his masters long catalog of conquests. Peasants arrive, celebrating the nuptials of their friends Zerlina and Masetto; when Giovanni joins in, he pursues the bride, angering the groom, who is removed by Leporello. Alone with Zerlina, the Don applies his charm, but Elvira interrupts and protectively whisks the girl away. When Elvira returns to denounce him as a seducer, Giovanni is stymied further while greeting Anna, now in mourning, and Ottavio. Declaring Elvira mad, he leads her off. Anna, having recognized his voice, realizes Giovanni was her attacker.

Dressing for the wedding feast he has planned for the peasants, Giovanni exuberantly downs champagne.

Outside the palace, Zerlina begs Masetto to forgive her apparent infidelity. Masetto hides when the Don appears, emerging from the shadows as Giovanni corners Zerlina. The three enter the palace together. Elvira, Anna and Ottavio arrive in dominoes and masks and are invited to the feast by Leporello.

During the festivities, Leporello entices Masetto into the dance as Giovanni draws Zerlina out of the room. When the girls cries for help put him on the spot, Giovanni tries to blame Leporello. But no one is convinced; Elvira, Anna and Ottavio unmask and confront Giovanni, who barely escapes Ottavios drawn sword.

ACT II: Under Elviras balcony, Leporello exchanges cloaks with Giovanni to woo the lady in his masters stead. Leporello leads Elvira off, leaving the Don free to serenade Elviras maid. When Masetto passes with a band of armed peasants bent on punishing Giovanni, the disguised rake gives them false directions, then beats up Masetto. Zerlina arrives and tenderly consoles her betrothed.

In a passageway, Elvira and Leporello are surprised by Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto, who, mistaking servant for master, threaten Leporello. Frightened, he unmasks and escapes. When Anna departs, Ottavio affirms his confidence in their love. Elvira, frustrated at her second betrayal by the Don, voices her rage.

Leporello catches up with his master in a cemetery, where a voice warns Giovanni of his doom. This is the statue of the Commendatore, which the Don proposes Leporello invite to dinner. When the servant reluctantly stammers an invitation, the statue accepts.

In her home, Anna, still in mourning, puts off Ottavios offer of marriage until her father is avenged.

Leporello is serving Giovannis dinner when Elvira rushes in, begging the Don, whom she still loves, to reform. But he waves her out contemptuously. At the door, her screams announce the Commendatores statue. Giovanni boldly refuses warnings to repent, even in the face of death. Flames engulf his house, and the sinner is dragged to hell.

Among the castle ruins, the others plan their future and recite the moral: such is the fate of a wrongdoer.