Those of you who are familiar with
Cosi fan Tutte know that there are only six characters in the show, plus a chorus. So, where did the 14 characters in
Schooling come from?
Well, they were not conjured out of thin air, but rather have some kind of root (some strong, some slight) in characters from
Cosi or from one of the other Mozart/DaPonte buffi –
The Marriage of Figaro or
Don Giovanni.
Let’s run down the list and see how the magic is made, shall we?:
Billy – Billy, naturally, is based on
Cosi’s Guglielmo. (Guglielmo is “William” in Italian.)
Lilly – It follows, then, that Lilly comes from
Cosi’s Fiordiligi. (“Lillyflower”) The “Yard Rocks” song comes from Fiordiligi’s famous aria “Come Scoglio”… “Like a Rock”.
Freddy – From
Cosi’s Ferrando. There is not as much delineation between the two boys and the two girls in
Cosi as there is here, but Ferrando seems to be the more headstrong and poetic of the two.
Dori – From
Cosi’s Dorabella. Dorabella is oftened described as the “flighty” sister, because she switches so quickly from a mad love of Ferrando to a mad love of Guglielmo’s Albanian.
Coach Al – From
Cosi’s Don Alphonso.
Miss Thorne – From
Cosi’s Despina. (“Little Thorne”) Despina is the girl’s young but worldly servant in
Cosi, a de facto mentor because of her experience.
We’ve certainly beefed up the roles of Al and Thorne from their 18th century counterparts. As a matter of fact, although the teenage love stories drive the plot of Schooling – the real heart of the play, the point of the play, even, is to watch Al and Thorne take a second chance on true love.
Dean Giovanni – Loosely based on the titular character of
Don Giovanni – an unscrupulous seducer of women.
Leo – Loosely based on Don Giovanni’s sidekick, Leporello. The obsessiveness of Leo is a new invention, but his opening monologue draws from the aria “Notte Giorno Faticar.”
‘Senora’ Elvira - Based on Donna Elvira – Don Giovanni’s spurned lover who still carries a flame for him and chases him throughout the opera.
Nurse Mesmer – Here she exists to satirize dangerous modern trends in pharmaceuticals, but in
Cosi, the quack doctor is a disguise worn by Despina in order to further trick the girls. (And spoofing dangerous trends in medicine at the time!) Check out the bio of Franz Mesmer, after whom the term “mesmerism” was coined at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MesmerZoe – a lot of license here, but she echoes the flirty peasant girl Zerlina from
Don Giovanni.
Babs – here’s another flirty servant girl – Barabarina from
The Marriage of Figaro.
Matt and Ben – the names are partially a play on Damen and Affleck, for no reason other than the fact that they are buddies and kind of dorky, but Matt mirrors the dopey Masetto from
Don Giovanni, and Ben the immature Cherubino from
Figaro. Masetto loves Zerlina, and Cherubino is eventually paired with Barbarina, just as Matt and Ben land Zoe and Babs. (O Noez – teh sp0ilerz!!!!)
Enjoy!
The Photos below were taken during rehearsals of:
In 2007, an e-mail to the OEHS cast with a few questions about how the "Schooling" experience was going. Below are a few answers by the hard-working actors:
It’s time for a posting on the man without whom A Schooling in Love would certainly not be possible:
Those of you who are familiar with Cosi fan Tutte know that there are only six characters in the show, plus a chorus. So, where did the 14 characters in Schooling come from?
Through the magic of "The Google", I've found an English translation of Cosi fan Tutte online.
By now you may know that A Schooling in Love, or That’s What’s Up with Girls is adapted from the 1790 Mozart/DaPonte opera buffa Cosi fan Tutte, ossia La Scuola degli Amanti (“All Women are Like That or The School for Lovers”).
Cosi is sharp romantic comedy about infatuation and fidelity. The plot? Two young military officers (Ferrando and Guilielmo) brag that their fiancés (Fiordiligi and Dorabella) would be eternally faithful. Their boasts are overheard by a cynical, single, nobleman, Don Alfonso, who bets them that they are mistaken. The bet? The boys pretend to go off to war, and return disguised as two “Albanians.” They attempt to woo one another’s loves, and eventually succeed. Initially angry and heartbroken, the lovers decide that they have all learned a valuable lesson and get married despite the indiscretions. Sound familiar?
nior High School approached Hilliard and Boresi with a question similar to that posed in 2006. Do you have any material suitable for high school use? That's when Schooling went back to the drawing board and was expanded and adapted into musical form.
