Teatro Grattacielo announces performances of a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Performances are on July 17 at 7PM and July 19 at 3PM at Ellen Stewart Theatre- (Shares at La MaMa), 66 East 4th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY. Tickets start at $52.75 and can be purchased at https://grattacielo.org/season/cosi-fan-tutte

A perennial favorite of the operatic canon and the third of Mozart’s collaborations with his famed librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, Così fan tutte distills the pair’s finest qualities: humor, intrigue, and a sharp eye on the human condition.

In this new production, directed by Cate Pisaroni and conducted by Abdiel Vázquez, the familiar tale is reframed through a polyamorous, design-driven lens—a contemporary exploration of love as process rather than verdict. Pisaroni transforms Mozart’s experiment in fidelity into an open, emotionally intelligent study of connection, self-construction, and fluid identity, set within a minimalist world inspired by Bauhaus geometry and Lars von Trier’s Dogville. At the center of the interpretation is Cupid: not a decorative emblem of romance, but a narrator, observer, and provocateur who moves between worlds and exposes the opera’s emotional machinery. The production heightens the tension between structure and vulnerability, allowing Mozart’s precise musical architecture to open into questions of desire, contradiction, tenderness, and transformation. The result honors Mozart’s wit while boldly re-examining intimacy, transparency, and the human desire to design—and test—the boundaries of love.

And in a fitting resonance for a New York–based project, Lorenzo da Ponte—who later lived, taught, and helped introduce Italian opera to the United States—left a cultural imprint on the city that subtly echoes through this contemporary reimagining.