Its source material was considered incendiary in its day. Performances of the original play were banned in France for its volatile political notions. It was barred from Austrian stages for its alleged licentious content.

When Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, proposed to Emperor Joseph II that they would like to turn it into an opera, they must have done some fast talking. The Emperor gave his blessing (on the condition that they tone down the revolutionary tendencies), and the result was one of the greatest operas ever written.

This weekend, the Princeton Festival will unveil its production of “The Marriage of Figaro,” which will run for three performances at McCarter Theatre Center: Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and 6/21 & 6/28 at 3 p.m. The festival’s artistic director Richard Tang Yuk will conduct.

This year’s musical theatre offering, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” will begin its run of ten performances at Matthews Acting Studio, Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University, beginning today at 8 p.m.

Also this weekend, the final round of the piano competition will take place on Sunday at 3 p.m., at the Clark Music Center, The Lawrenceville School, in Lawrenceville.

Other highlights of the festival include upcoming concerts by Concordia Chamber Players (6/20), the Nashville guitar duo Striking Matches (6/21), the Festival Baroque Orchestra (6/24), pianist Fei-Fei Dong (6/26), and the Indian music and dance group Pradhanica (6/27). Related lectures and events pepper the schedule.

The Princeton Festival runs through June 28. For more information, look online at http://www.princetonfestival.org.

You can read more about it in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2015/06/classical_music_princeton_fest_1.html

PHOTO: Super-salesmen Mozart and Da Ponte