A love-struck young nobleman in multiple disguises. A controlling older man desiring to marry the young woman in his care. A cunning barber inventing schemes. A captivating young woman at the center of it all. Mix those details together, and you have Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. My friend Heather and I went to see Lyrical Opera Theater’s production at Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center a few weeks ago, and we enjoyed our experience.
Lyrical Opera Theater is a community opera company that features professional and emerging opera singers who make a living and provide for their families in professions other than classical music. The company gives its singers opportunities to continue their training, perform for local audiences, and educate school children about opera. Currently staging two operas a year, the company makes opera affordable and accessible to the community as a labor of love to help this classic art form endure. Lyrical Opera Theater utilizes computer-generated scenery projections, simple set pieces and props, and recorded music to keep its costs low. Don’t let simplicity dissuade you, however. While Lyrical Opera Theater’s productions are more modest than what a full-scale professional company would produce, they are delightfully entertaining and worth attending.
In the case of The Barber of Seville, Lyrical Opera Theater engaged the audience with animated, expressive storytelling that effectively conveyed the comical plot. Set in Seville, Spain, the story begins with Count Almaviva (Alex Harrelson), disguised as a poor student named “Lindoro,” serenading Rosina (Alicia Fairbanks) outside her window. She is enamored with his serenade and careful to avoid the notice of her guardian, the suspicious Dr. Bartolo (Matthew Castleton). Count Almaviva meets Figaro (Jordan Lebaron), the clever, well-connected barber, who devises a plan to have Almaviva gain access to Rosina by posing as a drunk soldier requesting lodging in Bartolo’s house. This sets in motion a series of ruses to unite Almaviva and Rosina, evade Bartolo’s interference, and thwart his accelerated efforts to marry Rosina himself and benefit from her large inheritance. After many twists and turns, the young couple emerges victorious when Figaro persuades a notary (Todd Young), originally solicited by Bartolo to effect his marriage to Rosina, to marry Almaviva and Rosina instead. Rosina’s music teacher Don Basilio (Christopher Stockslager) is on hand to act as a witness. Almaviva and Rosina complete the task before Bartolo returns home, leaving the doctor no choice but to bless the young couple’s marriage.
This was my first time seeing The Barber of Seville, and I immediately fell in love with Rossini’s lush, melodic score and the fluid Italian lyrics. I frequently found myself immersed in listening to the beautiful music and Italian rather than paying close attention to the supertitles with English translations. I “understood” what was happening even though I didn’t “understand” everything word for word. I realized that the key melody in the overture was familiar to me, its having been used in movies and television shows. I also realized that THIS opera, NOT The Marriage of Figaro contains the aria “Largo et factotum” with the famously repeated “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro.”
The strengths of this production were cast members’ demonstrative comic acting and deliberate enunciation of consonnants. This opera contains a lot of recitative — rhythmically free sung passages used for dialogue and narrative — and the singers in the roles of Figaro, Bartolo, and Rosina excelled at delivering these lines with incredibly clear diction. This added to the conversationality and comedy of their characters’ exchanges. These three artists paired their conversational delivery of lines with ample physical comedy that brought their words to life on stage.
While this production wasn’t flawless, I genuinely loved it overall and look forward to supporting Lyrical Opera Theater in the future. Having loved The Barber of Seville as much as I did, I also look forward to finding it in professional companies’ scheduled programming and pursuing opportunities to see it again.
Heather and I saw Lyrical Opera Theater’s The Barber of Seville at the end of its run. However, the company has already announced its 2024-2025 season, which includes Georges Bizet’s Carmen and Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II. Click here for more information, and consider adding Lyrical Opera Theater productions to your performing arts calendar.
About Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center
Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center is a venue in Taylorsville, Utah that brings quality entertainment to one of the southwest areas of Salt Lake County. It features a 400-seat proscenium theater, a 200-seat studio theater, rehearsal space, and professional staff. At 400 seats, its main theater is smaller than Salt Lake City’s Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, but its thoughtful design and refined finishes call to mind Salt Lake City’s popular Eccles Theater. This gives patrons the best of both worlds: an intimate experience in an elegant setting. This venue has fast become one of my favorites. Click here for upcoming events.
What is playing now?
In an interesting stroke of serendipity, Utah Opera is staging Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro March 9-17, 2024 at Capitol Theatre. The plot of The Marriage of Figaro is a “sequel” to Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Both operas are based on plays by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799). Click here for information and tickets.
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