Headed to Lyric last night for the second to last opera of the season (there's gotta be a fancy word for that - 'penultimate' maybe?) Rossini's Barber of Seville. If ever there was an award for dream cast in an opera, this has to be it. Even without Mr. Florez (and if you thought I was making it up about his swallowing a fish bone, read all about it here, all of the singers were marvelous. Mr. Florez was replaced as Almaviva by John Osborn. He was joined by the absolutely superb Joyce DiDonato as Rosina, Andrew Shore (who we just saw as Falstaff) and the delicious Nathan Gunn as the titular Barber and 'general factotum'. (I am not sure what a factotum is or does but I am about 90% sure that I want to be one, or at least know one.) He sings the famous aria (you know - "Hey! Figaro! Fiiii-garrr-ooohhhh!") as he is rolling out of bed and then getting dressed. It is *totally* worth the price of admission. Seriously. Bring your binoculars. Even if you're in the damn front row. Aside from that, all of the singers were pretty good actors and comedians too. It was funny - and it was meant to be funny. We could see, all the way in the top balcony, lots of the smaller moments, gestures and glances.
I had seen the production before - back in the day when I was student teaching - we took the kids to see a student matinee(Imagine going to the opera with several busfuls of 7th and 8th graders... Just imagine it. And be glad you will never have to do it.). This John Conklin production features sets and costumes based on, or meant to invoke, the art of Magritte. I really liked it, visually. I thought it was interesting. The only comment I will make (and maybe if I actually read the program notes, I will learn about this) is that I am not sure the connection it had to the action. Does it mean to say the tale is fantasy? That I can understand. Or maybe they're saying it's surreal? Hmmm.
Anyway, it was probably one of my favorites of the season. As soon as we see Onegin (sadly, Dmitri-less) I will recap the Lyric season and look ahead to next year... I did decide to subscribe again, even though I am less than overjoyed by the season selections. We have fewer operas, but better seats, hopefully not in the fussy & cantankerous blue-haired biddy section. Geez. Is that even an option?
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