Cosi Fan Tutte - a great community production all around from Opera Providence

Opera Providence this weekend is doing a totally delightful production of Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte - in contemporary setting (a clever transition to Naples, Florida, and a luxury hotel, with Don Alfonso as the owner/manager and Despina as the concierge - works really well, better even the the Sellers version that set the opera in Despina's Diner). Story sung in English - nice to not have to read supertitles, though English of course never sounds as beautiful and open as Italian, in the arias. Could they do the recitative in English and the arias in Italian? Just thinking. The staging was great - all of the chorus was the staff of the hotel, bustling about, carrying luggage, etc. - and during the chorus, very cleverly, Alfonso distributed to the "staff" copies of the sheet music he is asking them to sing to the departing soldiers. Beautiful set done on a low budget, terrific theater venue at the restored Cranston Center for the Arts (I'm not joking). Most of all, the leads were excellent, especially Fiordeligi and Dorabella - beautiful voices (esp. McVey's) and they were both totally charming and gorgeous. The small orchestra was right on tempo and crisp and sharp - really, this was everything you could hope for in a community opera - more, actually. Beautiful singing, very lively and funny production that never lagged for a moment (personally, I have always thought the 2nd half/act to be a bit slow and reptitious, but who am I to judge Mozart?). Only disappointment: Why so many empty seats on a Saturday night, in a place like Rhode Island, where opera-lovers have filled the Vet for visiting companies not nearly as good as Opera Providence? Hope they can build more support from the community.