THE REHEARSAL

Ten performers days before their big fall shows.

- DINA LITOVSKY

10 DAYS UNTIL The Marriage of Figaro AT Little Island

ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO

Countertenor

COSTANZO IS A RARITY in multiple ways. A star countertenor who sings at the Metropolitan Opera and a sometime cabaret performer, he's also the general director and president of Opera Philadelphia. And from September 5 through 22, he'll sing all the leading roles-male and females in an abridged, rearranged, and kaleidoscopic version of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

"I've never done anything this hard," he says. "It's not as if I have one line and then I pause for someone else's response: I have every line. The saving grace is that when I switch from head voice to chest voice, they're different muscles so each one gives the other a break.

I'm starting to be able to get through it, but the question is, Can I get through 18 performances, five days a week? There's a frenetic, ecstatic quality to a one-person execution." JUSTIN DAVIDSON

90 DAYS UNTIL This Is My Favorite Song AT THE Peter Jay Sharp Theater

FRANCESCA D'UVA, Comedian