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Music
by
Gioachino
Rossini
Libretto
by
Cesare Sterbini
English
Translation by
Amanda Holden
and
Anthony Holden
Conducted
by
Dominic Wheeler
Original
director
Jonathan
Miller
Revival
by
William Relton
Designed
by
Tanya McCallin
Figaro
Mark Stone
Dr Bartolo
Andrew Shore
Count
Almaviva
Charles Workman
Rosina
Alison Roddy
Don
Basilio
Robert Pomakov
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London
Coliseum
English National
Opera
16
February - 19 March 2005 |
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This
is a genuinely funny production
of a genuinely funny opera.
All things conspire to make
it so, not just the original
comic conception of character
and situation, and Rossini's
exhilarating music, but the
happy genius of Andrew Shore
as Dr Bartolo, who carries
the show along delightfully,
and almost steals it completely.
Mark Stone is a fine Figaro,
combining an excellent voice
with cheerful relish in the
role. Alison Roddy's dangerously
magnificent dÈcolletage and
blonde ringlets - an operatic
Barbara Windsor of the classic
Carry On period - would by
themselves make her a perfect
Rosina, but she is even more
so because the silvery cascades
of her voice fit Rossini's
tumbling music like a glove.
Charles Workman has height,
presence and a resonant voice
that well suits an aristocratic
role, but it is questionable
whether his voice, good as
it is, has quite enough fluency
for the hectic colourings
of Rossini's score.
Having seen this "Barber"
several times in recent years
I have to count it a favourite,
and no doubt that predisposes
to positive feelings about
any revival; but this seems
to me more than worthy of
its previous avatars. If anything
it is racier and pacier, with
the cast's enjoyment spilling
over into the audience and
infecting them with the sheer
fun that permeates the whole.
Much of this owes itself to
the vivacious conducting of
Dominic Wheeler, and the energy
- more: the gusto - with which
the orchestra responds to
him. Rossini's youthful genius
grows on one, the more one
hears him. He had consummate
skills as a musician of comedy.
The finale of the first act
has to be one of the most
exuberant and cheering moments
in all operatic art. The English
translation by the Holdens
serves "Barber" very well;
it cannot be an easy text
to shift from one language
to another over so demanding
a score, but they have done
it wonderfully.
AC
Grayling |
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