Don Giovanni
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
2019
Butler Opera Center, Butler School of Music
Conductor: Douglas Kinney Frost
Director: Chía Patiño
Scenic Design: Ian Loveall
Costume Design: Michaele Hite
Lighting Design: Erin Fleming
Producer & Principal Coach: Tamara Sanikidze
Assistant Director: Matthew J. Schulz
Music Staff: Manuel Arellano, Gongming Jiang, Anna Moiseeva, Shih-Han Su, Natasha Talukdar
Poster: Paola Pinto
Photographs: Nathan Russell | Amy Russell
Our Don Giovanni takes place in México, current time, with the capos and the drug lords being the new and current aristocrats. This is a fact. We just don’t know it.
ACT I
Guadalajara, México, 2019. Leporello, an associate to Don Giovanni, keeps watch outside the Commander’s home. Suddenly, the Commander’s daughter, Anna, rushes out, struggling with the disguised Giovanni. Her father follows the noise. He challenges Giovanni to a duel and is killed. Giovanni and Leporello escape. Anna asks her fiancé, Ottavio, to avenge her father’s death.In the morning, Giovanni and Leporello encounter one of Giovanni’s former conquests, Elvira, who is devastated by his betrayal. Leporello tells her she is neither the first nor the last woman to fall victim to Giovanni and shows her his catalogue with the name of every woman Giovanni has seduced.A young crowd celebrates the marriage of Masetto and Zerlina. Giovanni flirts with the bride, seducing her with a different and better future. Elvira stops Giovanni’s pursuit. Anna and Ottavio recruit Giovanni to help them find her father’s killer. Elvira interrupts again and warns Anna. Giovanni, for his part, insists that Elvira is mad, and Anna and Ottavio wonder what and who to believe. As Giovanni leaves, Anna suddenly recognizes his voice as that of the murderer. She once more asks Ottavio to avenge her. He wonders how to restore her peace of mind. Giovanni, who has invited the entire wedding party to his home, looks forward to an evening of drinking and dancing. Outside Giovanni’s home, Zerlina asks Masetto to forgive her. Giovanni persues Zerlina once more, but fails. Anna, Elvira, and Ottavio appear “masked” and are invited in by Leporello. In the ballroom, Giovanni dances with Zerlina, then drags her into the adjoining room. When she cries for help, Giovanni blames Leporello. Anna, Elvira, and Ottavio, along with Zerlina and Masetto, confront and accuse Giovanni, who is momentarily surprised but manages to slip away.
ACT II
Giovanni pursues and serenades Elvira’s maid. He exchanges clothes with Leporello, who takes Elvira on a nighttime walk, leaving his master free. When Masetto arrives with a group of friends to hunt down Giovanni, the disguised Giovanni sends them off in various directions, then beats up Masetto. Zerlina finds her bruised fiancé and comforts him.Later that night, Leporello — still believed by Elvira to be Giovanni — is surprised by Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina, and Masetto, who all denounce the supposed Capo. Fearing for his life, Leporello reveals his true identity before making his escape. Ottavio proclaims that he will take revenge on Giovanni. Elvira thinks about Giovanni, who she still loves in spite of everything.In a cemetery, Giovanni and Leporello meet the statue of the Commander, who warns Giovanni that by morning he will laugh no longer. Giovanni forces the terrified Leporello to invite the statue to dinner. The statue accepts.Giovanni enjoys dinner at his home. Elvira arrives and makes a last attempt to persuade him to change his life, but he only laughs at her. The figure of the Commander appears and asks Giovanni to repent. Giovanni boldly refuses, bringing about his own end.