I walked into the BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton Street), to hear Domenico Cimarosa's "Il Matrimonio Segreto," after having a Jersey Girl Adventure. Remember, we who drive are not like you swingin' straphangers, who rattle off trains and connections like some aficionados rattle off baseball stats. One of the challenges in navigating via auto is asking New York City press people about parking and hearing question marks appear above their heads-"Pourquoi 'driving'"? If you're from Jersey, keep a Brooklynite on speed dial-signs are great till you get to an exit on the BQE-where you drive past the unmarked lane thinking, "oops"!

Let me assure you, the adventure of traversing Staten Island and a goodly portion of Brooklyn was very worthwhile. Parking is plentiful and the area where BAM's Harvey is located is beautiful and accessible via every form of major transportation. In fact, the BAM site has an encyclopedic listing of major transit possibilities.

Walking into the "Sunset Boulevard"-esque interior of the semi-restored Harvey Theater, named after BAM benefactor Harvey Lichtenstein, I felt like I was walking onto the set of "Follies". There are bare pipes for lighting and the once well-appointed luxury boxes on the side now house technological inhabitants-lights and speakers. There are scaffolds and some superstructure areas that are bare of the masonry that comprises the bulk of the interior. Brick is exposed through crumbling, but stabilized, plaster and the 900-seat venue does not have arms for the seats. I found this disconcerting at first, but soon grew to appreciate the extra room.

The house is very vertical-not as vertical as some black box theaters in the city, but as it had been a movie house earlier in its life, the Harvey has seating that is well suited to the opera. I had an orchestra seat, but even had I been in the balcony, would have found the view intimate and tremendous. This meant that the performers' slightest nuance was immediately visible. And ah, the cast!

Strong choices for the cast include Heidi Stober as Carolina and Chad Johnson as Paolino. These are our secretly married protagonists, who struggle with how to tell Geronimo, her father, of the marriage. Geronimo is determined to advance in the social register and sees the marriage of each of his daughters to noblemen as the key to that success. Toward that end, Paolino develops a plan to have Count Robinson, who is an English lord, ask for the hand of Elisetta, Carolina's older sister in marriage. This would seem to be perfection itself! But then the pot is stirred.

Stober and Johnson are both quite accomplished, but still seem to be growing into their full power. Both have light, appealing voices and were having a great deal of fun in the acting, as well as the singing, of their roles. Both have very mobile expressions and even those in the balcony can see what fun they are having.

Fredrika Brillembourg and Conal Coad are Fidalma and Geronimo, the sister and brother at the head of the household. Fidalma runs her brother's household and also holds some purse strings of her own, as a wealthy widow. She is the oil on the waters between her two hotheaded nieces and breezes from place to place across the stage as if on very smooth rollers. Her voice is rich and her range is wide. The role requires a span from chest voice through high mezzo-soprano and Brillembourg glides through these registers as easily as she does across the pickled pine stage floor. Coad as Geronimo provides basso profundo comedy without being a caricature of "the Father". He's got the benign neglect of his daughters down to an art, only getting involved with their internecine struggles when they escalate to his threshold of attention. After all, men and women had very different spheres, in the late 18th century, when this farce was written. Coad displays a wide range of expression, vocally as well as facially, and exploits both of these to great advantage.

Jonathan Best plays Count Robinson quite broadly. Also a bass, he is extremely amusing in his approach to his character, and in this character's approach to the other characters. His voice is beautiful and nuanced. His greatest contribution, though, is in crystalizing the physical comedy of the role. From the moment he enters, the misunderstanding about just who it is that will be his bride is seen less as confusion and more as obfuscation. Is the English count really so confused or does he only choose to seem so?

Georgia Jarman as Elisetta was my personal favorite. Elisetta is a pretentious and unsympathetic, albeit comic, character. Jarman and Stober are excellent at portraying the roles of sisters as rivals, making it plain that such a struggle has existed since the birth of both. Jarman's execution, however, of Elisetta's complex second act arias, coupled with her clarity of tone and her control in her assignment, make her arrival a welcome pleasure, despite the ill will she must convey. Jarman is masterful in executing the trills and making difficult passages seem effortless. Truly a joy to hear, Jarman's performance was the highlight of the evening.

Paul Goodwin as conductor has a very deft touch with the orchestra. His experience spans baroque, classical and romantic era music and is apparent in his work with this refined orchestra of select players from the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Composer Cimarosa was a contemporary of Mozart's and was the more well known in their time. Cimarosa was a prolific writer and this opera has the distinction of having an encore, in its entirety, commanded by Emperor Leopold, when it was first performed. Unlike Mozart, who wove complicated warp and weft in trios through sextets, Cimarosa preferred to work in pairs. Sometimes it's the sisters, in one of their incessant arguments. Or, when Fidalma and Elisetta want to send Carolina to a convent, because each thinks Carolina is after the object of her affections, aunt and niece are allied against the innocent Carolina. Sometimes the lines are simple harmonies, sometimes more complex.

Against the virtues of this stellar production, a drawback, for me, is the use of colloquial supertitles to illuminate the action. I know that the lively arts need to be in the lingua franca of the audience, but the translations were a wee bit broad for my taste.

The audience that turned out on a Thursday in Brooklyn was quite diverse. Archetypes represented included students to business types to people who have supported opera for a very long time. Two things were wonderful to me. First, I had been among the first to be seated, at 7 pm, and the venue filled up from one-third to completely full in the five minutes immediately before curtain. I had worried these artists would be playing to a very empty house and was happy to be proven wrong. Second, as soon as the lights dimmed, it was as if someone turned off the "conversation" switch. In a time when many who attend theater can't keep quiet, it was really gracious and heartening to be surrounded by people who appreciated what they were about to experience.

Director Jonathan Miller's production is greater than the sum of its parts and that is considerable. Make sure you hear "Il Matrimonio Segreto" during this limited run. This is an Age of Enlightenment gem that is not often performed. Don't miss it.

I attended the second show in the run, May 29. The opera will be performed again on May 31 and June 3 and 4 at 7:30 pm and on June 1 at 3 pm. Tickets are priced at $30, 55, 80 and 90. Visit www.BAM.org for more information.
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