Unless you live in Paris or Prague, it's not often that the characters in a major opera are singing about your hometown.

In the current production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte at the Seattle Opera, which first premiered in Vienna on January 26, 1790, the lead male characters, Ferrando and Guglielmo, make their entrances in the second half in disguise, announcing they are now two wild and crazy guys from Federal Way.

The 2500 attendees on opening night on February 25 roared with laughter.

"We chose Federal Way because it fit in with the whole philosophy of this production, set in modern day America, that the opera could take place anywhere, anytime," explained Tina Ryker, Seattle Opera spokeswoman. "We chose Federal Way because it fit in with the whole philosophy of this production, set in modern day America, that the opera could take place anywhere, anytime," explained Tina Ryker, Seattle Opera spokeswoman.

Opera fans are often wary of traditional works set in modern dress and time. Of course, it's all about the singing, but much of the joy in attending an opera is the accompanying visual feast; the fabulous and exotic costumes, emotionally atmospheric lighting, a beautifully designed set that completely transports us to another time and place for a few hours.

What to do with an opera in which those on stage look like they just walked in off the street outside, after a stop at the corner Starbucks?

Do as I did, and marvel at the timelessness of Mozart's music and Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto about changes of the heart.

It's actually the modern-day props that lend a great deal of fresh comedy to the production. In this story about two young women who, over a period of 24 hours, forget all about their fianc/s in favor of two strangers "of questionable appearance and taste," the girls sing their moving arias while constantly gazing at their boyfriend's pix on their cell phones. A marriage contract, now a pre-nup, is written on the latest IBook. Ferrando and Guglielmo, at first decked out in Armani-type suits, return in disguise to test their girlfriends' fidelity dressed like two failed roadies for Aerosmith.

This novel approach works because when it comes to love, the quandary of changing partners and true love is as ageless as needing nourishment for the body.

This Cosi (the title loosely translates to All Women Do It) is a delicious sexual romp, and one realizes how much fun Mozart was as a man, a wild and crazy guy himself.

As Speight Jenkins, artistic director of the Seattle Opera, says, "In the Romantic Age, from the beginning of the nineteenth century until World War I, Cosi was rarely given, and musicians from Beethoven down were scandalized at Mozart's contributing his talent to what they considered such a tawdry plot."

Emperor Joseph II commissioned the piece, suggesting to de Ponte that Mozart's nemesis Antonio Salieri compose the score. When Salieri flaked out, Mozart stepped in and finished the opera.

Although the setting serves to contemporize the story, Mozart's music shines as brilliantly as ever, under the direction of conductor Andreas Mitisek, and da Ponte's poetic words are as meaningful and haunting as they were in 1790.

Love is "a little serpent, that lodges in your breast and bites you there." Despina, the girl's personal assistant, eggs them on in their "infidelity" by declaring, ""You think men... will be faithful! They are all fickle, inconstant. The winds are more stable than men are with their lying tears, false glances, deceitful voices and treacherous caresses. They love us only for their own pleasure, then they despise us and deny us love. So you may as well beat them at their own game!"

Certainly sounds like my last relationship, and I for one stood and called out Bravo! as the curtain descended.