Arts on Air – Open Stage: “Waitress on Top”
RTHK TV Programme
[If you missed the broadcast on 25 December, you can find the video of the show at the following link]
Opera Footage provided by: Italian Cultural Institute
A project by: Stefano Fossati (Italian Cultural Institute Director)
Music: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Libretto: Gennaro Antonio Federico
Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2021 / 1:00pm (HK time) – available until 24 Dec 2024
TV channel: RTHK TV31
Presented by: Italian Cultural Institute
With the assistance of: The Peninsula Hotel
Broadcast by: Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)
A restaurant (Italian, of course). A harried bachelor restaurant boss. A budding female entrepreneur, currently a waitress. A silent waiter. A threatening chef. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s celebrated farce “La Serva Padrona” is re-imagined as a battle of sexes and matching of wits in contemporary Hong Kong. This one-act comedy is as bubbly as a glass of prosecco and just as intoxicating.
Synopsis
Uberto, an elderly bachelor, is angry and impatient with his maidservant, Serpina, because she has not brought him his chocolate. Serpina has become so arrogant that she thinks she is the mistress of the household. Indeed, when Uberto calls for his hat, wig and coat, Serpina forbids him from leaving the house, adding that from then on he will have to obey her orders. Uberto thereupon orders Vespone to find him a woman to marry so that he can rid himself of Serpina.
Serpina convinces Vespone to trick Uberto into marrying her. She informs Uberto that she is to marry a military man named Tempesta. She will be leaving his home and apologizes for her behavior. Vespone, disguised as Tempesta, arrives and, without saying a word, demands 4,000 crowns for a dowry. Uberto refuses to pay such a sum. Tempesta threatens him to either pay the dowry or marry the girl himself. Uberto agrees to marry Serpina. Serpina and Vespone reveal their trick; but Uberto realizes that he has loved the girl all along. They will marry after all; and Serpina will now be the true mistress of the household.