Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” has been a fixture of the Lyric Opera repertory since the company’s first season, in 1954, and has yet to outstay its welcome. And it will be around opera houses as long as the antics of Figaro–Seville’s most famous tonsorial artist–and friends continue to amuse audiences. Also as long as there are enough reliable Rossinians in the world to regale us with the comic opera’s bel canto hit parade.
Lyric’s 1989 production of “The Barber of Seville” returned to the Civic Opera House on Wednesday night–by happy coincidence, the 82nd birthday of the company’s indefatigable public relations counsel, Danny Newman–with an almost entirely new cast and a stylish new conductor, Yves Abel. Fortunately, its original virtues remain intact.
Previous Lyric “Barbers” have settled for a sedate concert-in-costume and forgot the fun. Director John Copley’s restaging of his own production, with whimsical, Magritte-flavored sets by John Conklin and colorful costumes by Michael Stennett, gets the balance right, just as in 1989 and 1994.
Indeed, the singing was so uniformly strong on opening night that one could overlook some edgy coordination between stage and pit and several sight-gags that were over the top and then some.
Newman, among other veteran opera fans, has been around long enough to recall some great Lyric “Barber” casts, including the stellar likes of Simionato, Gobbi, Prey, Alva, Kraus, Corena, Berganza and Horne. “Great” may be excessive praise in the case of the current Lyric ensemble, but the principal artists–Vesselina Kasarova as Rosina, Rockwell Blake as Almaviva and Dwayne Croft as Figaro–are among the cream of today’s international Rossini crop, and all three sang splendidly.
It was good to welcome back Kasarova, the Bulgarian mezzo-soprano who made her U.S. debut in Lyric’s “Idomeneo” in 1997. For sheerly beautiful and idiomatic Rossini singing, there may be no finer female singer around today. She tossed off the glittering fioriture of Rosina’s famous showpiece, “Una voce poco fa,” with a grand, almost vehement flourish. This is a voice of size and amazing agility, plus luscious, dusky warmth combined with bright, penetrating top notes.
Dramatically, this heroine was a matter of individual taste. Lacking the amused charm of her Lyric predecessor, Frederica von Stade, Kasarova’s Rosina is in the tough-cookie Callas mold: There’s never any doubt this rather arch, self-possessed schemer will win her freedom and her man, so the opera’s happy ending is a foregone conclusion from the start.
Of the gifted Americans who are singing the other leading roles, Blake stood out by virtue of a rock-solid technique and a clear, firm timbre that enabled him to nail the count’s florid music with real command. His fine singing of Almaviva’s often-omitted aria justified its inclusion. He was, moreover, very funny in his masquerades as a tipsy soldier and a mincing music teacher. Blake remains one of the most dependable Rossini tenors around.
Croft was long overdue to assume a major role at the Lyric after his Figaro in Corigliano’s “Ghosts of Versailles” five seasons ago. His baritone is rich and sexy, not as deep or dark as that of Thomas Allen, the company’s previous barber, but with exceptional range, energy and musicality behind it. He executed Figaro’s famous patter song while executing a striptease in reverse, and his voice blended beautifully with Blake’s.
Their adversaries were John Del Carlo, whose Bartolo blustered and bellowed with welcome musicality and sharp comedic timing; and Mark S. Doss, who made a meal of Basilio’s “slander” aria, in quite the best vocal performance he has given at the Lyric.
Josepha Gayer turned Berta’s aria into a bedtime flight of spinsterish fancy.
One of the best Rossini conductors on the planet, Abel uncorked a fizzy brew during the overture, enforced generally brisk tempos that sometimes had the singers tripping over their tongues, and made a large orchestra sound light and airy.
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Lyric Opera’s “Barber of Seville” plays through Feb. 24 at the Civic Opera House; phone 312-332-2244.
