Review: The Barber of Seville

Scottish Opera, buoyed by news of Il Trittico, their last bravura production, making the shortlist for Best New Production at The International Opera Awards 2023, is making another bid for glory with The Barber of Seville. With Sir Thomas Allen in the director’s chair, overseer of several SO triumphs, and a cast of stars new and familiar, the odds are certainly stacked in the company’s favour.

The result is perfection…almost. The opening gambit, set upon an 18th century Sevillian street deliciously realised by designer Simon Higlett, is an unqualified joy. The band assembled to assit Lindoro/Count Almaviva in ‘disguise’ (Anthony Gregory) in serenading his sweetheart are made a hotpotch group of street entertainers. They assemble at a cafe as day breaks, all shabby chic and grease paint, one on stilts, and equipped with their instrument of choice. Marshalled by a cheeky Fiorello (Ross Cumming) throughout the overture played with joyful verve by The Orchestra of Scottish Opera under Stuart Stratford, it’s a magical beginning.

Above all things, this Barber of Seville is a charmingly stylish affair. That intentional elan is no less evident than in the choice of Figaro. With matinee idol looks, locks, and moustache, Baritone Samuel Dale Johnson makes an impressive barber. His introduction to the audience with the iconic ‘Largo al factotum della città‘ is a joy. The tone is rich, the lingual dexterity on point – particularly given the less lyrically flowing necessities of Amanda Holden‘s English translation. Indeed if Johnson had the vocal horsepower his director enjoyed in his pomp, he would be entirely perfect.

If English makes the songs that little more challenging to the cast, Holden’s work excellently captures the comedy of the underlying Beaumarchais play. The result is more laugh out loud moments than your average night out with Gilbert and Sullivan. The cast all display fine comedic instincts and timing to boot, which makes for an incredibly genial ~3 hours in the stalls.

The romantic adventures, and misadventures are a delight, as Tenor Gregory’s silver-voiced Almaviva seeks to free his beloved Rosina (Simone McIntosh) from the clutches of her guardian, and would be husband, Don Bartolo (David Stout). Almaviva’s nominated fixer, Figaro, the titular Barber of Seville is more than happy to smooth the path of love, once a healthy payday is guaranteed.

Allen weaves what could descend into large-than-life chaos into a delicious caper. Every character is lovingly introduced, and given their space to shine amidst the beautifully crafted and lit set. Soprano McIntosh is utterly sensational, giving a glorious, cheeky Rosina more than able to save herself but more than happy to take the option marked ‘handsome, charming suitor.’ Her ‘Una voce poco fa‘ is nothing less than a tour-de-force.

Stout, cutting a Wimpy-esque figure in his padded suit, hams it up wonderfully as the villain of the piece. More pompous oaf than evildoer he and his ‘fixer’ Don Basilio (John Molloy in very fine, booming voice), talk a bigger threat than they present. Ultimately it’s Amalviva’s own pretence of being a poor nobody that almost drives Rosina into Bartolo’s arms.

Kudos are also due to Soprano, and SO 2023/24 Emerging Artist, Inna Husieva who seizes her one aria, ‘Il vecchiotto cerca moglie‘ with both hands. Not only is her delivery agile and lovely in pitch, her performance as the vexxed housemaid Berta is also superbly characterised.

There’s such a sense of fun about The Barber of Seville, such a lack of the least non-comedic pomposity, that it must surely make a wonderful gateway experience for any newcomers to Opera. This is precisely the sort of production one hopes to take an Opera-sceptic to for the best chance of winning them over. The physical comedy is on point, the witty lyrics delivered with grace, all of it couched within Rossini’s beautifully melodic score. It’s tempting to think Allen’s rendition not a million miles away in tone, or crowdpleasing glory from the opera’s first staging more than 200 years ago.

Without any scope left now to escalate my praise, I shall sign off. Bravo Scottish Opera, you’ve done it again!

The Barber of Seville is a production of Scottish Opera supported by The Scottish Opera Syndicate