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| THE BARBER OF SEVILLE photo courtesy of The Fort Worth Opera Joo Won Kang - Figaro & Megan Marino - Rosina |
The Travelling Toe and 3 Dear Friends attended the Sunday matinee performance of "The Barber of Seville" presented by The Fort Worth Opera at Bass Hall.
This is a "comic" opera with lots of laughs and wonderful singing!!! :"Figaro" has proven to be of one the classics within the genre of the comic opera repertoire. It was composed by Gioachino Rossini and had it's premier in Rome in 1816.
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| Gioachino Rossini 1792-1868 |
The first act opens with a young man, Lindoro, serenading a young woman (Rosina) trying to persuade her to come out to the balcony. Arriving upon this poignant scene is Figaro, the barber, who at this part of the opera, sings the famous song "Figaro". Even if you are not an opera fan you would recognize this renowned song. Figaro recognizes the young Lindoro, who is really Count Almaviva. The two set up a scheme to have Lindoro disguise himself as a drunken solider who is ordered to be billeted with Bartolo, Rosina's guardian. This ruse will allow Lindoro access to the house and to Rosina, who must hide her feelings from Bartolo,as he has designs on marring her himself - for her dowry! The first act ends with a wonderful slow-motion scene with everyone getting involved in the action including the local constabulary.
This first act was long, about an hour and a half, so once again liquid consumption needed to be considered prior to the performance! So after the welcomed intermission, the opera continued with Act II.
Of course this act ties all the stories together and we find out who ends up with who. Here is one opera that really does have a happy and fun ending.
The costumes, wigs and make-up,ensured that each character was appropriately attired to reflect the personality of that character. Also the stage setting was inventive and beautiful letting us image that we were indeed in an Italian villa. The director, David Gately, provided fun and extraordinarily cleaver staging of this comic opera.
The principals all had excellent voices. Extended standing ovations were awarded to the entire cast and of course for the very excellent Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra led by
Joe Illick.
CAST (photos from internet)
Joo Won Kang
Figaro
Count Almaviva/Lindoro
Andrew Stenson
Rosina
Megan Marino
Dr. Bartolo
Kyle Albertson
Don Basilio
Tyler Simpson
What a wonderful afternoon at the Fort Worth Opera!
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| BASS HALL |
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