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Brilliant singing but little character in this revival of a strong classic.Summary
Rating
Good
Peter Relton has revived the late Jonathan Miller’s excellent staging of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. After nearly 40 years on and off, it’s still the best Barber in London.
Set in eighteenth century Seville, Rossini’s classic comedy has plenty of laughs in this production. Seville’s fixer and barber extraordinaire, Figaro, helps Count Almaviva don various guises to rescue Rosina from her overly protective guardian, Doctor Bartolo. Of course it’s not that simple and everyone including the piano teacher, a notary and the army want to get in the way. Miller’s version, sung clearly in English (with surtitles that are hardly necessary), is a perfect first opera: great, familiar music with a silly story in an over-the-top and daft production. Easy fun.
This time around there’s something missing. Lack of character takes some of the zippiness out of the show. The singing is on point throughout, there’s no complaints there, but the whole thing is lacking the sparkle that previous revivals had. Conductor Roderick Cox, who promises ‘unflagging energy’, presents a faithful and pleasant interpretation of the score, but with no surprises or excitement. Some over-enthusiasm from the pit makes the fiddlier act one patter songs harder to sing over, sadly hampering Figaro’s bravado right at the front of the show. This weighs the first act down and frankly the whole first hour, with all of the familiar and popular numbers, is a bit of a trudge.
Holding up the production is the wonderful soprano Anna Devin, with beautiful coloratura singing and willing to show off with some pearls of ornamentation throughout. She makes a fantastic ENO and role debut as a playful and confident Rosina. Lesley Garrett makes a great return, on top form, as a cheeky and chirpy Berta the housekeeper, twenty-five years after singing Rosina in this production.
Also returning is Alastair Miles, who had the whole of the last revival to perfect a growly, creepy Don Basilio. Sorry to say, Simon Bailey’s Doctor Bartolo is too subtle for this campy production, appearing overly damp and lacking menace.
Innocent Masuku sings Count Almaviva with a clear brightness and he and his Figaro, (Charles Rice in fine and springy voice), have an excellent dynamic with perfect comic timing. Unfortunately, on more than one occasion on opening night, the singing ran away from the orchestra. I’m confident that this will be fixed by later in the run, but this sort of thing shouldn’t really leave the rehearsal.
Producer: ENO
Director: Jonathan Miller
Revival Director: Peter Relton
Conductor: Jonathan Cox
Translation: Amanda Holden and Anthony Holden
The Barber of Seville plays at ENO until 29th February.
Further information and booking can be found here.
