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The Lyric Stage: Aug. 20 - "Les Femmes Vengees" by Francois Philidor

In 2014, Opera Lafayette in Washington,  D. C. used Francois Philidor's Les Femmes Vengees as the third act to a shortened French version of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. Using the same cast and set as Cosi on the same night, Opera Lafayette placed Philidor's piece ten years later. The stories are very similar. They share interwoven themes of love and infidelity, temptation and flirtation, the one (“Così fan Tutte”) during courtship, and the other (“Les Femmes Vengées”) after the first bloom of marriage has faded. They also share the same happy ending — the soprano ends up with the tenor, and the mezzo with the baritone.

Ryan Brown conducts the Opera Lafayette Chorus and Orchestra and soloists Blandine Staskiewicz , Alex Dobson, Antonio Figueroa, Claire Debono and  Jeffrey Thompson.

Mike Harrah is host of The Lyric Stage, which airs Sundays at 8 pm.