Great production of Marriage of Figaro, and props to DaPonte

Scalped 3 tix and got to see final performance of terrific production of marriage of Figaro at the met - final performance of this production as it happens. Set in early 20th century ( some of the staging involves old-fashioned flash photography) & as usual the met has high production values w an elegant and somewhat expressionist (like a giant interlaced-gold wedding ring perhaps?) revolving set that both shows us the various setting in the duke's estate and keeps all the settings spatially related as the characters at various times pursue one another thru openings and disappearing hallways - and we clearly see how the duke can keep tabs on everyone and also get everything wrong. During the overture the stage is active and alive w characters - the servants - who are constantly busy and at work making things really right for the boss, so we sense more than in most productions the class distinctions - and this is emphasized again during the one intermission as servants stay on the stage, sweeping the floor, making the beds, etc. Some nice dramatic touches throughout the performance, such as Susanna singing her one and only solo aria almost directly to Figaro - she's sending him a message, while pretending to speak to others. Act 2 ended w/ the one "modern" touch in the whole opera as each of the main characters was alone in her or his spotlight, and we sense how each is caught in his or her own confusion and dilemma. My only quibble, dramatically, was with the conclusion, which I wish had brought out the chorus, i.e., all of the servants, to sing the beautiful final choral aria - seems that some of the most important characters were left behind (and didn't even come out for a bow at the end, odd). Vocally the production was good though not great - the female leads universally stronger than the male, to my uneducated ear, though none of the female leads seemed particularly strong at Italian enunciation. Such a great opera though, all told, a real study of psychology and culture with one beautiful and haunting moment after another, and like all great comedies ending with some edge. DaPonte may not deserve equal credit w/ Mozart (he's like the proverbial guy who did the floor of the Sistine chapel), but he deserves a lot of credit - the story and text behind 3 of the greatest operas ever composed, or should I say written?