Review: COSĺ FAN TUTTE at Four Seasons Centre For The Performing Arts

The Canadian Opera Company’s remount of its 2014 production of Cosí Fan Tutte, originally directed by Atom Egoyan, brings to bear all of the performance and creative excellence for which the COC is known. However, in the post- #MeToo era, and amidst the Cornell 7 scandal, this 236-year-old work hits different. A discerning viewer in 2026 can’t fail to notice the centuries-long throughline of misogynistic beliefs about women’s sexuality and bodily autonomy that raises questions about the role of art in preserving and dismantling social systems.

Premiering in 1790, this comedic collaboration between W.A. Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte is undoubtedly one of the most beloved and most performed “hits” in the operatic canon. I reviewed the 2014 production and enjoyed it, largely because I am a sucker for great music, great singing, and sublime orchestration - the work and this particular production had all of that both times.

The best translation of the title is “Women are all like that,” and unsurprisingly the comedy relies on stereotypes about the fickle and weak-minded nature of women. If these stereotypes were not tired during Mozart’s time, they should surely be tired by now. And yet it is exactly these stereotypes that allowed the Cornell 7 to rationalize their horrific actions. In this opera 2 young men, goaded by an older authority figure, resolve to settle a bet about whether or not their fiancées can eventually be coerced into cheating. Led by the older man, their schemes to pressure the girls into a partner-swapping sexual indiscretion include plying them with alcohol. Sound familiar? It should.

My companion experienced the show as one long rape joke, destroying her ability to enjoy the creative aspects of the production. I was able to watch the performance wearing two minds. My classically trained singer mind enjoyed the music and vocal performances as much as I did in 2014. Sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi are the emotional centre of this piece, and Martina Myskohlid and Lauren Fagan were outstanding in the roles. Despite how silly both girls are in Da Ponte’s libretto, both performers managed to realize the characters with dignity through the elegance and sophistication of Mozart’s music. Fagan’s rich honey-gold rapid vibrato was perfect for the more mature and somewhat more constant Fiordiligi, and Myskohlid’s light but sturdy lyric mezzo-soprano brought a polished, silvery playfulness to the more flighty Dorabella. Their voices paired perfectly in their duets like “A guarda sorella,” which wowed in Act 1.

Tracy Dahl reprised the role of the sisters’ maid and bad influence, Despina. Once again, she proved herself an adept comedic character actress with a larger-than-life stage presence in a hilariously tiny frame. She and Daniel Okulitch in the role of Don Alfonso (the older bet maker) are great scene partners and made great use of physical comedy that played on their height difference during the Act 1 scene where Despina is absurdly disguised as a doctor.

Laurence Kilsby’s sweet, pure tenor is ideal for the innocent and trusting romantic lead, Ferrando. Joel Allison’s juicy, bouncy baritone was the perfect contrast and complement as Guglielmo, and their scenes together and with the girls were engaging. I especially enjoyed Allison and Myskohlid’s Act II performance of the iconic romantic duet “Il core vi dono”.

My Black feminist mind was pretty appalled. Egoyan is obviously not blind to the potential for a more sinister interpretation of what has historically been described as a “battle of the sexes comedy”. He alludes to a 21st-century understanding of rape culture with an ongoing butterfly motif, with giant pins creating a subtly violent analogy between the trapped, delicate insects and the efforts to entrap the girls. The repeated references to the famous painting “The Two Fridas” by Frida Kahlo and the extension of the painting's bloody imagery into props like surgical scissors created other nods to a violent interpretation of this opera. The story is set in a prep school with Don Alfonso as the principal, adding another layer of dark irony given current events.

But ultimately it felt like the violence was seen but not deconstructed. We are left with the same 18th-century hot take - women can always be coerced into sexual activity, and that’s just how it is. The four walls of the libretto, which has been criticized as immoral and silly at various times through the centuries, may limit the potential for more meaningful critique of rape culture and the tropes on which it relies. In that case, the only satisfying production of this opera may require a complete reimagining of the story while preserving the magic of Mozart's sweeping melodic lines and refined, light-touch scoring.

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