More comedy than pain in "Marriage of Figaro's" battle of the sexes
Written by an Austrian (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), with an Italian libretto (by Lorenzo da Ponte) based on a French play (by Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais), "The Marriage of Figaro" - now in a new production at Lyric Opera - is set in a Spanish palace outside Seville in the 18th century, where the principal activity appears to be the pursuit of liaisons, both wanted and unwanted, among the royals and their servants. Th…