Last month, I went to see Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan opera. The most enjoyable performance of the night was that of Rodion Pogossov as Figaro. I thought he started off very strong with his famous aria “Largo al factotum,” and never really looked back. He took complete control of the stage and perfectly portrayed that laid back, know it all attitude that Figaro is supposed to have. Isabel Leonard, as Rosina,filled the entire stage with her voice. Leonard also looked beautiful on stage and graceful onstage.

Conductor Maurizio Benini has a lot of experience, and showed it all off during the opera. He had the chorus playing on all cylinders. Benini really showed off his expertise by maintaining the exact pace you would want and even allowing some of the singers, most notably Pogossov, to really stretch their voices and show off.

Director of production Bartlett Sher and set designer Michael Yeargan’s  showed off their creativity in the use of a giant anvil at the end of the first act. The first act ended with all the people on stage being very confused. The idea to actually have a large anvil lowered from the ceiling and crush the fruit stand brought some much-needed comic relief to the end show. The use of the anvil were brilliant ideas by Sher and Yeargen.  Also how they used seven or eight sets of doors to create houses, walls, rooms, for Seville,

There were also some things that made the show less enjoyable.  First of all, the body  language of Leonard bothered me.  Rosina is supposed to be a character who has a major transformation throughout the opera. I wanted to see Rosina start off as a trapped girl, and then go through that transformation into a girl who would ignore Bartholo and go off to marry the count. I feel like Leonard never really showed us that first side.  From the start of the opera she already seemed to be the hardened lady who is ready to fight off anyone who would stop her.

I was very uninspired by Alexey Kudrya as Count Almaviva. I thought he seemed very content to play second fiddle to Pogossov or even to Leonard. I wanted the count to be someone who would come on stage and grab your attention; he would be the person that you could not keep your eyes off. However, when I remember the opera the image of the count is hidden. I would also put some of the blame for Kudrya’s job on the director of production Bartlett Sher. As director of production Sher has to notice that Kudrya is refusing to take center stage and Sher must talk and persuade him to be more showy and louder in terms of body language.]

All in all, The Barber of Seville kept my attention and entertained me. Although there were a couple of flaws, most notably Kudrya’s refusal as the Count to take over center stage from Pogossov. However, the entire show is worth seeing because of Leonard’s extraordinary mezzo soprano performance but mostly because of Pogossov’s extremely inspiring performance as Figaro.