City Opera's "Così Fan Tutte" at Gerald W. Lynch Theater "Così Fan Tutte," with Rod Gilfry, far left, and Marie Lenormand, in New York City Opera's new production of this Mozart opera, directed by Christopher Alden, at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College. If New York City Opera is to have any success in its new manifestation as a scaled-down, roving company, then every production will have to be a must-see event. It finally has one, with the director Christopher Alden's new production of Mozart's "Così Fan Tutte," which opened at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater of John Jay College on Sunday afternoon. This is the third of only four productions in the company's modest season. And despite some confounding and heavy-handed touches in Mr. Alden's libidinous, darkly contemporary and bitterly comic staging, neither veteran opera buffs nor curious newcomers will want to miss this "Così." It is performed by an appealing young cast in an intimate auditorium of about 600 seats, ideal for Mozart, with Christian Curnyn conducting a vibrant and stylish, if occasionally scrappy, performance. "Così Fan Tutte" presents a director with a quagmire of challenges and possibilities. On the surface the story tells of Don Alfonso, a cynical old bachelor, who, tired of hearing his young friends Ferrando and Guglielmo brag about the constancy of their sweethearts, bets them that in short order the women can be made to succumb to temptation. On instructions from Alfonso, the young men say they are going off to war, then reappear disguised as exotic Albanians and, after some effort, successfully seduce each other's betrothed. You cannot say that Mr. Alden, who gave City Opera a terrific production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and a revelatory staging of Bernstein's "Quiet Place," brings the opera's subtext of desire to the surface. As this staging makes clear, the sexual yearning is explicit in Da Ponte's libretto and Mozart's music. This production takes the text at its word. The opera is staged in an abstract-looking urban park, with a floor and a back panel depicting trees, sky and mossy ground. Andrew Lieberman's set has the look of a black-and-white film, and the costumes by Terese Wadden suggest the early 20th century. During the overture, we see people strolling in the park, wearing suits and dresses in shades of black and gray, as if Magritte had done a grim version of Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." A long bench is almost the only set piece. If the minimalism of the staging was partly driven by the company's tight budget and lack of a permanent space, it is nevertheless effective and eerie. One person who wanders in is the baritone Rod Gilfry, as Alfonso, sounding more vocally robust in this role (and this space) than he has for some time. His Alfonso is a stiff, menacing middle-aged gentleman in a black suit and derby. The fine young lyric tenor Allan Clayton, as Ferrando, is wholesome-looking and earnest. The hardy baritone Philip Cutlip, as Guglielmo, is the more impulsive of the two. In their first utterances, in which they praise the fidelity of their girlfriends, they tease out the conflicting emotions in the music rather than filling Mozart's lines with the typical bluster. They seem to be trying to convince themselves of something. And if their girlfriends are so pure, is that what they really want? When Alfonso challenges them, he makes clear that this wager is no game. "I am serious," Mr. Gilfry blares, silencing the young men for a few tense seconds. It is one of many instances in the production where the performers turn the recitatives into gripping dramatic exchanges. Then we meet the young ladies, who are sisters. Fiordiligi, the plush-voiced, impressive soprano Sara Jakubiak, is pretty and a little flighty; Dorabella, the dark-hued, compelling mezzo-soprano Jennifer Holloway, is bookish and demure. As they sing of how fine-featured their fiancés are, the restless desire in the words and music comes through with unguarded freshness. The plot of "Così" does not seem so farcical if you accept that these couples have not yet had sex. This production drives home that point. So when the men reappear in disguise (barely disguised in this staging), it gives all four young people, not just the women, the excuse they need to break the rules. Things start to go off in Mr. Alden's production when Despina appears, here the feisty, vocally vibrant mezzo-soprano Marie Lenormand. We first see her sitting in the park, looking almost like a vagrant, accepting a cigarette from a passing stranger. If you did not know she was the sisters" maidservant, you might not figure this out. Mr. Alden, as is his way, lets his imagination run rampant. When the two disguised men, having been rejected, take poison to end their misery (the poison being a drink from a public fountain), they wear bizarre caps with bunny ears. Huh? In Act II, as the sassy Despina tells the sisters to take advantage of the situation and enjoy their new suitors, a man wearing a bearskin, who has been stalking around, approaches her. He turns out to be Alfonso. As you wonder what point Mr. Alden might be making, a truly sensual staging of "Così" devolves into a mind game. Still, this production has unforgettable touches that offer penetrating readings of the piece. When the sisters agree to go courting with the exotic new men, the four of them take a turn in a rented rowboat, wearing endearing, old-fashioned bathing suits. Mr. Alden draws intense performances from the cast, even during arias. In Act I, when Ms. Holloway brought her rich voice to Dorabella's aria "Smanie implacabili" ("Implacable desires"), the music seemed one of the most powerful expressions of sexual frustration in opera. At the end of any decent production of "Così," after the ploy is exposed, and the couples have grappled with the arbitrariness of romantic desire, the four people should look as if they have been through hell. But here the embittered lovers seem utterly degraded by their experience. Could Mr. Alden not give us a little something to go home with? Though "Così" is a downer, when you think about it. Where does this production leave City Opera? If all four performances were to sell out, the total attendance would not equal one sold-out house at the company's former home, the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. Is it a step toward a comeback? We shall see. New York City Opera's "Così Fan Tutte" runs through Saturday at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street, Clinton; (212) 870-5699, nycopera.com.