The Barber of Seville
Music by Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by Cesare Sterbini
Directed by Rob Ashford
at Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker (map)
thru Feb 28 | tickets: $20-$229 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
Read review
New production has many newcomers, splendid results
Lyric Opera of Chicago presents
The Barber of Seville
Review by Clint May
The barber’s back in session at the Lyric in a prodigious new production under the directorial debut of Rob Ashford. Going back to the source (Pierre Beaumarchais’ play), Ashford has infused his production with the inherent Romance (that’s with a capital R) and humanity, for this most accessible of operas. With a dazzling cast and Gioachino Rossini’s enduring score that has made this work a shorthand for opera itself, The Barber of Seville will win new hearts and reinvigorate veterans.
As the factotum of his humble town, Figaro (the roguish Nathan Gunn), doesn’t just trim beards and style wigs. He’s also the town’s de facto matchmaker, acting as the interlocutor for couples that need help overcoming their modesty. When the lovestruck Count Almaviva (Alek Shrader) enlists his help winning the hand of Rosina (Isabel Leonard), he happily complies (in exchange for lots of gold). To win his beloved, they’ll have to team up to circumvent her crotchety guardian Dr. Bartolo (Alessandro Corbelli) before he can marry her and begin siphoning off her dowry. Love must go in more than one disguise and thwart many a counterplan before the two can at long last triumph and ensure their happily ever ever.
Figaro is one of Gunn’s bailiwicks, and he’s honed his baritone to rakish perfection for the unmistakable hallmark (and famously difficult) "Largo al factotum.” Playing off tenor Shrader’s playboy Count, the two are positively magnetic. Mezzo-soprano Leonard is quite simply magnificent as the headstrong and beautiful Rosina, who is no mere damsel but a wily woman who gets her own way no matter the obstacles. Still, the Italian Corbelli steals every scene with his baritone Bartolo, making the cantankerous old fool seem well nigh sympathetic as he bristles and blusters with perfect timing. Tracy Cantin as Berta and Kyle Ketelsen as Don Basilio get only a few moments to shine, but shine they do.
Ashford’s production slows down the zaniness of Lyric’s previous long running iteration, toning down the comedy and upping the dramatic stakes of love’s labours. In fact, one of the most comic elements may be the styling by Lyric-debut costume designer Catherine Zuber and wigmaster Sarah Hatten. Their penchant for oversized hats and hyper-styled wigs (particularly Bartolo’s) gives everyone a Rococo flourish (though they are still mostly realistic from the neck down). Yet another freshman at Lyric, Scott Pask’s tasteful and elegant set design is definitively Moorish with its open air colonnades, wrought iron and tiling. Some details, like an extended set change with young supernumeraries was one of the most discussed quibbles at show’s end—it certainly arrested the momentum in a production already slower-paced than its predecessor. Any such grumblings are ultimately squashed by newcomer Italian conductor Michele Mariotti’s intense and luminous elucidation of Rossini’s lyrical score.
It’s gratifying to see that with so much new-to-Lyric talent at so many key places, this new Barber has been seamlessly woven together with their veterans at every level for a refreshing take on the classic. Such an undertaking reminds audiences that despite its two-hundred year ubiquity, this is no mere comedy. Rossini’s genius opus works so effortlessly and with such congeniality it would be easy to take it for granted. Thankfully, that is an oversight easily remedied by this sublimely crafted and still grandly entertaining stop on the opera world tour.
Rating: ★★★★
The Barber of Seville continues through February 28th at Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker (map). Tickets are $20-$229, and are available by phone (312-322-2244) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at LyricOpera.org. (Running time: 3 hours 10 minutes, includes an intermission)
 
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Photos by Robert Kusel and Dan Rest
artists
cast
Nathan Gunn (Figaro), Alek Shrader (Count Almaviva, ”Lindoro”), Isabel Leonard (Rosina), Alessandro Corbelli (Dr. Bartolo), Kyle Ketelsen (Don Basilio), Tracy Cantin (Berta), Will Liverman (Fiorello), John Irvin (Sergeant)
behind the scenes
Rob Ashford (director), Michele Mariotti (conductor), Scott Pask (set designer), Catherine Zuber (costume designer), Howard Harrison (lighting designer), Michael Black (Chorus Master), Sarah Hatten (wig and makeup design), Dan Rest, Robert Kusel (photos)
 
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