Cosi Fan Tutte

There are elements of Eurotrash in this outdoor AixenProvence summer opera production Nevertheless the splendid singing and acting transform the story normally treated as farce into something considerably more serious As many other critics have noted the young lovers have not yet sorted everything out as this performance ends Act One begins with the principal characters running around in the outdoor theater while the audience takes it in as if they had been advised to sit back and enjoy the novelty Very likely they were also asked to refrain from applauding at the end of arias and ensemble pieces in which the threehour opera abounds