US Edition 
Così fan tutte, ENO, review: 'amiable and colourful'
This unchallenging version of Mozart's opera will please ENO fans, says Rupert Christiansen
Così fan tutte gets interpreted very seriously these days: too seriously, I often think, when solemn claims are made for its Enlightened wisdom on matters of sexual politics or its bleak view of human nature.
Phelim McDermott’s amiable and colourful new production has no truck with such pretensions. It seeks only to entertain, treating the parable as nothing more than an innocently silly, cynical farce and making no attempt to excavate any of its putative darker implications.
The setting becomes a tacky Coney Island fairground in the Fifties, where Don Alfonso is some sort of cheapskate magician, attended by a congeries of circus freaks, fire-eaters and bearded ladies who assist in the intrigue. Fiordiligi and Dorabella are two giggling bobbysoxers, holed up in a motel where Despina is their beehived chambermaid, and Ferrando and Guglielemo are two dudes who disguise themselves as greasy rock ‘n’ rollers. Think Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello "beach blanket" movies.
It’s a cute concept, designed by Tom Pye, but not one which takes you very far or deep, and as the evening progresses, the action drifts, the characters pall and the sideshows draw most of our attention. We ride the carousel and marvel at the sword-swallower but the heartstrings aren’t tugged, and it’s not very funny or elegant either.
There is, of course, Mozart to lift the game: the sublime first act, where his genius is working at white heat, and the rather more variable second act, which contains some indifferent numbers and benefits from neat cuts. The conductor Ryan Wigglesworth is not a natural for this repertory, I suggest, and I found some of his tempi and dynamics on the brutal side, especially in the ensembles: pure beauty is absent throughout, leaving a substantial hole.
There was some lovely singing, however, from a cast that seemed relaxed and enjoying itself.
Marcus Farnsworth, phrasing sensitively and projecting crisply, made an outstanding debut as Guglielmo, well-matched to Christine Rice’s richly expressive Dorabella.
The lanky American tenor Randall Bills sang Ferrando nice and cleanly, despite some tightness of tone above the stave, and Kate Valentine took bold, engaging stabs at Fiordiligi’s testing arias.
If neither Roderick Williams not Mary Bevan made much impression as Alfonso and Despina, then McDermott’s anodyne view of their machinations and motivations must be partly to blame. This is a Così which will please ENO’s audiences greatly, but it doesn’t challenge or illuminate.