Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Gioacchino Rossini’s ‘IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA (The Barber of Seville)’

This is a live DVD recording from a performance at Opernhaus Zürich in 2001 of Rossini’s most popular comic opera, adapted from the first of Beaumarchais' Figaro plays. This opera is chronologically the prequel to Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), though it was written after that work (Mozart was inspired to write his as a sequel to Giovanni Paisiello’s opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia... now a forgotten work thanks to Rossini’s far superior take).

Since it premiered in Rome in 1816, this opera has been a dependable box office hit ... not counting the disastrous premiere night itself, that is (maybe someone ought to write an opera about that!) For a juicy account of all that went wrong (the bloody nosed tenor, the stage-hogging cat, the infamous Italian opera claque,..., etc), try the Metropolitan Opera’s very informative website:
//archive.operainfo.org/broadcast/operaBackground.cgi?id=37&language=1


This opera is a hit for good reasons. It starts off with a famous overture (chances are you’ve heard it before in various commercials... or if you watch Bugs Bunny cartoons) followed by one catchy tunes after another (especially in the 1st act). It is a light-hearted comedy with plenty of opportunity for the singers/actors to display their comic talents (hopefully they do have comic talents... that is) and inventive florid singing.

Main plot:
Rosina is a young ward in the care of the sleazy Dr Bartolo, who wants nothing more than to marry her inheritance. She is also courted by the young Count Almaviva (under various disguises), who enlists the help of the town’s barber extraordinaire Figaro in his attempt to outwit Bartolo in marrying Rosina. Their harebrained plots have Almaviva impersonating many personalities from a poor student to a cocky soldier to Don Alonso the music tutor). Things get complicated with interferences by Don Basilio... with the whole thing witnessed by the bewildered and sneezy maid Bertha (who thought she had seen it all, but obviously hadn't).

CAST:
Figaro (The Barber/Jack-of-all-trades match-maker) ::: Manuel Lanza (baritone)
Count Almaviva/ Lindoro/Don Alonso (Courting Rosina in many disguises with the help of Figaro) ::: Reinaldo Macias (tenor)
Dr Bartolo (Rosina’s guardian/sleezy suitor) ::: Carlos Chausson (bass)
Don Basilio (Rosina’s music teacher) ::: Nicolai Giaurov (bass)
Berta (Rosina’s governess) ::: Elizabeth Rae Magnuson (soprano)
Conductor ::: Nello Santi/ Orchestra and Chorus of the Opera House Zurich
Stage Director ::: Grischa Asagaroff

Sample clip:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiS9ciE4_sU (Rosina's Una voce poco fa)

The staging by Grischa Asagaroff is set in the early 20th Century rural Spain. This set is cleverly designed on Opernhaus Zurich’s famous rotating stage (on which the entire cast display a wonderful sense of timing in their movement from room to room in co-ordination with the rotation). There are some psychedelic staging ideas like the partition between the 3 scene sets being curiously sculpted as a big Chinese paper fan or the arrival of the rich Count Almaviva on a scooter while the barber Figaro rides a sporty red motorcycle with a sidecar, etc. The color is a bit monotonously orange (except for the 1 blue room), but the whole cast do well both in their singing and in comic acting. This performance is a nice piece of ensemble work.

The stand out performance is undoubtedly the Rosina of Vesselina Kasarova, the Bulgarian-Swiss mezzo soprano (truly one of the greatest Rosina of her generation). The mezzo has been well acquainted with this role since her final exam at the Sofia Conservatory in 1989, so by the time of this 2001 performance she has the part down pat... which makes it remarkable that her portrayal of the role is still so fresh and enthusiastic. The voice is sumptuous, dark, beautifully controlled and extremely agile with excellent upper extension (she does telegraph her high B’s with her coiling, but there isn’t a hint of strain on any of them). As if it isn’t already difficult enough, she gives a delicious rendition of 'Una voce poco fa' while doing tricky maneuvers with liquid-filled test tubes in Bartolo’s lab!

Kasarova’s Rosina is not a naïvely innocent country bumpkin by any stretch of imagination, but quite worldly and street wise young lady... and even downright devious when the situation calls for. This cunning and knowing a Rosina might not be to some audience’s taste, but I love it since she is also one of the most adept comic Rosina we have around.

The Spanish baritone Manuel Lanza (no relation to the famous American tenor Mario Lanza) makes a dashing Figaro, the show’s title character. He is playful, flirtatious and very suave, befitting literature's most famous cunning barber. Vocally he is no slouch either, but is quite apt at phrasing his line in a slickly funny manner. His Act I 'Largo al factotum' is well sung and and his comic timing and fitting cockiness makes this Figaro quite endearing.

The beleaguered Dr Bartolo is excellently portrayed by the Spanish bass Carlos Chausson. His Bartolo isn’t a hapless old fool but a pretty wise old fox himself. He is never overly menacingly sinister (that would have suited this farce about as well as the all too serious George Lazenby suited James Bond), but is mean enough to get his villain side across in this comic setting. It just so happens that in this production, the wise old fox is in the company of the even foxier Figaro and Rosina. He copes wonderfully with the florid 'A un dottor della mia sorte', firing off good patter (rapid fire singing of many syllables per note) with his agile bass.

Count Almaviva, Rosina's persistent suitor, is sung by the tenor Reinaldo Macias. Sr Macias has a beautiful lyric tenor voice, but isn’t as secure as Kasarova and Chausson are in his singing. He acts well through out the performance, however, and has great chemistry with Lanza's Figaro, especially in their long Act I duet All’idea di quell metallo. Berta the maid is well sung by the soprano Elizabeth Rae Magnuson who richly earns her very loud round of applause at the curtain call with a great comic turn in, 'Il vecchiotto cerca moglie'. All her sneezing fits are done with such splendid timing that I almost have to wish her a perpetual bout of the cold.... a stage one rather than a real germ, mind!

Maestro Santi leads a very brisk though not very perky read from the orchestra pit. His occasionally unforgivingly fast tempo causes some rushed patters from the singers in their effort to keep pace with the orchestra. He keeps everyone together (chorus included) nicely in the ensemble numbers, though. When you have a cast that is good at comic improvisation as this is, you can get away with quite a bit. Highly recommended.

2 DVDs. Run-time: 161 min. Sung in Italian with subtitles in: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish. Excellent sound quality.

If you are interested in opera by Rossini, you might enjoy these other reviews:
Il barbiere di Siviglia (Zurich 2001), Le cambiale di matrimonio (Schwetzingen 1989), La Cenerentola (Munich 2005), Ermione (Glyndebourne 1995), Tancredi (R Abbado 1996), Tancredi (N Zedda), Tancredi (Schwetzingen 1992)

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4