Opera star reveals corset secret
May 4, 2007 
Isabel Bayrakdarian, star of San Diego's production of the Marriage of Figaro opera, has admitted that she has a few tricks to deal with the tight corset she is required to wear for the stage show.
The singer said to the Union Tribune: "There is a trick you learn. No matter how uncomfortable it may be, you have to wear the corset at least a half-hour before you go onstage. That way, your body heat will stretch the strings and you'll be able to breathe better."
Of course, the soprano is not wearing a corset as a fashion statement, but to portray her character, Susanna, in the most realistic light, as women in 1786, when Mozart wrote the opera, would have worn a corset as a matter of course.
While Ms Bayrakdarian may not be entirely comfortable with the corset, she feels that her character fits her very well.
"She's so normal and real," the opera star said of Susanna. "I don't have to think about the period when I play her."
Yet the diva should be as accustomed to the corset as she is to the role, having performed as Figaro's bride extensively from Paris to Pittsburgh.
Corset-fans will be relieved to know that comfort levels have dramatically increased since the 18th century.
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