John Malkovich sings Mozart in new play

5 June 2013, 10:37 | Updated: 5 June 2013, 10:54

Two-time Academy Award winner John Malkovich is starring in a new version of The Giacomo Variations, a fusion of stage drama and opera based on the life of Giacomo Casanova and the operas of Mozart.

The production, currently making its debut run at the Place Des Arts in Montréal, Canada, not only features the Hollywood A-lister in the title role, but also a 45-piece orchestra playing a score made up of excerpts from Mozart operas.

Specifically, the Mozart works in question are those with libretti by the composer's famed collaborator, Lorenzo Da Ponte (including Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte and The Marriage Of Figaro).

Providing the live music for the play is the Orchester Wiener Akademie of Vienna. Malkovich also takes on some operatic singing for the role, as evidenced in the production's trailer.

The drama centres on recollections from Casanova's memoirs and his reputation as a gadabout, adventurer and prolific womaniser. Malkovich has described the play as "It's a kind of movie within a play, within a movie."