giovedì 12 maggio 2016

Rossini's Revenge in Music and Vision 16 February



Rossini's Revenge
The first of three new 'Barber of Seville' productions
marking the opera's bicentenary,
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Gioacchino Rossini is one of the four major musical comedies of the period between the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century. It shares this privilege with Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Verdi's Falstaff. A common feature of the four operas is that they are perfect and do not need any innovative stage direction: it is sufficient to follow the libretto, the score and the authors' staging instructions.
Il Barbiere was premiered in Rome on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina. For the bicentenary, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma prepared major celebrations: three different productions — one in the main House, one in the Summer Season at the Caracalla Baths open air theatre and one — co-shared with Palermo — in a simplified version and on a van travelling to major squares in both Rome and Palermo.
Simone Del Savio as Bartolo and Florian Sempey as Figaro in Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama
Simone Del Savio as Bartolo and Florian Sempey as Figaro in Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution
The first of these productions opened on 11 February 2016. The house was full; I was in the audience. But the staging received a real battery of boos when the production team (Davide Livermore for stage direction, sets and lighting, Gianluca Falaschi for costumes, D-Work for videos and Alexander for special effects) appeared at the end of the performance. There had been some boos already at the end of the first part.
A moment from Act II of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama
A moment from Act II of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution
In the opera house program, Davide Livermore explained that at first he was 'terrified' by the invitation to stage Il Barbiere, but then he developed the idea to present a synthesis of Barbiere readings over the last two hundred years. Thus, on a stage crowded by mimes, the action goes from the guillotine — Almaviva is beheaded, but then he puts his head back on his body and the play goes on — to World War I airplanes fighting in the skies of Europe, to 1970s television. This is made worse by grotesque costumes (especially in the first part).
The entire cast of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama
The entire cast of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution
The boos were Rossini's revenge. Davide Livermore should be only partly sorry; the same fate occurred to very well known stage directors such as Luigi Squarzina and Luca Ronconi when they played too hard with Il Barbiere.
Edgardo Rocha as Count Almaviva (centre) in Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama
Edgardo Rocha as Count Almaviva (centre) in Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution
Fortunately, the musical part rescued the performance; the conductor, the orchestra and the singers received open stage applause and warm accolades at the end, also for their ability to play and sing in spite of the staging. The orchestra was conducted by Donato Renzetti, an old hand from the Rossini Opera Festival. Among the singers, the three young protagonists Chiara Amarù (Rosina), Florian Sempey (Figaro) and Edgardo Rocha (Almaviva) were excellent. The first two were a major surprise at the 2014 Rossini Opera Festival ('Avant-garde and Fun', 7 September 2014) and no doubt they are the best of the new Italian Rossini crop.
Florian Sempey as Figaro, Sax Nicosia as Ambrogio and Simone Del Savio as Bartolo in Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama
Florian Sempey as Figaro, Sax Nicosia as Ambrogio and Simone Del Savio as Bartolo in Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution
Edgardo Rocha is a young Uruguayan tenor with quite a bit of experience in belcanto. He sang the impervious aria Cessa di più resistere which only a few tenors dare to attempt.
A scene from Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama
A scene from Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution
Next to them are the very experienced Simone Del Savio as Don Bartolo and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Don Basilio, and a lovely Berta, sung by Eleonora De La Peña.
Let us wait for the other two productions.
Copyright © 16 February 2016 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome,
Italy

Nessun commento: