Anvils, falling trees and lightning strikes in an opera house? Back for the 592nd time at the Metropolitan Opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, also known as The Barber of Seville, did not disappoint its viewers.
The opening scene of Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Dr. Bortolo’s servant and the doctor himself tried to be humorous with a bit of slapstick comedy, which told us to expect more comedic relief later in the opera. But the comedic value took a while to arrive. The beginning of the first act was dry; it was mostly just opera singers singing in Italian, with nothing aesthetically pleasing in the background. I glanced around and saw a few people nodding off. As the first act was coming to an end, the comedic feel kicked in. Chaos ensued when almost every singer and supporting singer was on stage for the scene of Count Almaviva’s arrest. An anvil had appeared out of nowhere and was slowly descending on the stage, ready to crush a cart of pumpkins. Such randomness was a comfortable change from all the strict singing. There were no more sleepy, bored people.
Rodion Pogosov, who sang the role of Figaro, replaced Peter Mattei for the night and let his strong baritone voice win over the crowd. Pogosov put on an unforgettable show, singing Figaro’s aria with such emotion and humor. He used the whole stage and jumped from place to place during his aria, allowing the audience to understand that Figaro has many ladies chasing him. Another memorable singer was Maurizio Muraro, who sang the part of Dr. Bartolo. His booming, deep bass voice carried through the whole auditorium, allowing us to hear every note of anger and annoyance he inputs into the character of Dr. Bartolo. Javier Camerena and Isabel Leonard, singing the roles of Count Almaviva and Rosina, respectively, didn’t do too well. Camerena had one golden moment during the whole opera, which was right after he sang his aria. He received a long cheer from the crowd but that was his only moment. Leonard did not play the part of Rosina too well. The character of Rosina is supposed to be one where she starts off obedient but turns rebellious; Leonard did not quite get that across. Her performance was mediocre compared to the strong male leads.
The orchestral pieces were very pleasing to the ear. Benini, the conductor for Il Barbiere di Siviglia, controlled his musicians well, motioning them to speed up their playing when things were chaotic and then retarding the beat later on as the chaos dies down. Each instrument was displayed nicely; you can clearly hear the clarinets being brought out in some parts while in other parts, the flute is more prominent.
I can see why this opera is still running after 592 times. Even though there are some new singers, they do their role justice and put on a good show for us. Il Barbiere di Siviglia is definitely worth seeing; you will have a good laugh with this tame slapstick comedic opera.
