Australia Opera’s favourite Barber is back trim, taut and terrific

Opera Australia’s much-loved production of The Barber of Seville is back unchanged for its 30th anniversary season.

Opera Australia's much-loved production of The Barber of Seville is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Picture: Keith Saunders

• Singing star Lotte takes us on whirlwind musical tour
• Cinderella’s queen of the ball in season opener
• New star diva Samantha Clarke rules the Nile
• Wagner to die for in Simone Young’s Ringside quest

Thankfully, Opera Australia resisted the temptation to update Elijah Moshinsky’s much-loved production of The Barber of Seville, now in its 30th anniversary season.

All the charm, wit, humour and 1920s-style slapstick wrapped up in Giacomo Rossini’s joyous concoction of rollicking action and romantic whimsy flourished untrammelled in this highly successful comedy.

Good casting made the show, of course, but the frenetic pace of the music undoubtedly helped, as did Michael Yeargan’s clever set design, conductor Daniel Smith’s measured handling of the orchestra and the sheer enthusiasm of all concerned.

John Longmuir as Count Almaviva and Samuel Dale Johnson as Figaro in The Barber of Seville. Picture: Keith Saunders

As the mischievous matchmaking barber, Queenslander Samuel Dale Johnson proved as adept at fast talking, with impeccable comic timing, as he did at exercising his mellow baritone, most notably in the opera’s best-loved aria, Largo al factotum, better known by the line “Fi-ga-ro! Figaro! Figaro!”

Opening night marked his onstage debut in the role for Opera Australia.

Italian mezzosoprano Serena Malfi, making her Australian debut, played Rosina, the rebellious young woman who catches the eye of Count Alamaviva and who conspires with Figaro to thwart the unwelcome attentions of her guardian.

Malfi specialises in classical and bel canto repertoire, in particular Mozart and Rossini. She is no stranger to the role of Rosina (she first performed that role in 2009 at the Zurich Opera House and has repeated that success since).

Scottish-born Australian performer John Longmuir seemed to revel in playing the amorous count, a role that gave him a chance to explore his comic talents while demonstrating his ringing tenor.

Likewise, Andrew Moran, as Dr Bartolo, Rosina’s self-centred guardian, used his baritone to good effect.

Bass David Parkin made a suitably oily Don Basilio and his sister, versatile soprano Jane Ede, played Dr Bartolo’s bibulous assistant; not often you get brother and sister together on stage at the same time.

The set largely consisted of a two-storey playhouse, with Rosina’s bedroom upstairs and her guardian’s surgery and living area below, providing a stage for a motley collection of characters, including a silent, cigarette-smoking zombie-like assistant inspired perhaps by Lurch in TV’s The Addams Family, a cavalcade of Keystone Cops and a number of flappers with no clear role other than to add to the confusion in Dr Bartolo’s house.

If ever there was an opera light and funny enough to draw in newcomers, this frothy delight surely must count as the best show in town.

DETAILS

• OPERA The Barber of Seville

• STARS Samuel Day Johnson, Serena Malfi, John Longmuir, Andrew Moran, David Parkin, Jane Ede

• AT Sydney Opera House

• UNTIL February 28

• BOOKINGS 9318 8200 or [e-mail]