As the play begins, a middle-age man in modern clothes walks onstage and opens his lines with “Dear Mozart”. One wonders exactly which milieu are we in: contemporary times or in Mozart’s? Is the
Figaro production being described by the unnamed protagonist the premiere production, or just a revival taking place in his neighbourhood opera house?
Things became clearer as the play went on: we are in modern times, and the 'Mozart' that the protagonist was referring to is an abstraction, as one would call out “Dear God”, only that this deity responds through music. The entire play reveals itself to be a series of one-sided conversations by the protagonist to the dead composer.
On stage right, a piano quintet (that’s a piano and string quartet for you, in this case the
Take 5 Quintet) play arrangements of arias accompanying singers from
New Opera Singapore, in addition to performing the appropriate quintet and quartet repertoire whenever the script brings up the piece. Excerpts performed include arias from
The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and
The Magic Flute among others.
And so we see how a man of 45 has come to realise the meaning of life through Mozart’s music. From encountering a rehearsal of
Figaro as a 15 year-old awkward teenager with suicidal tendencies (wondering if anyone would find his penis attractive), to chancing upon a choral performance while cynically Christmas shopping as a young adult, through difficult times supporting friends and family dying of AIDS among other bittersweet stages of life, Mozart's music has provided much solace and deepened his understanding and appreciation of life.