Rosina (Hongni Wu) and Almaviva (Jack Swanson) in their happily-ever-after conclusion of The Barber of Seville
Yesterday afternoon my wife and I returned to the War Memorial Opera House for the final performance by the San Francisco Opera (SFO) of Emilio Sagi’s staging of Gioachino Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville. Colm Seery revived the original choreography by Nuria Castejón, providing a generous serving of eye candy as intervals along the advance of the narrative. As I had observed at the end of the last month, the four principal roles were double cast, allowing me to appreciate the second round of leading performers. These were tenor Jack Swanson (Count Almaviva), baritone Justin Austin (Figaro), mezzo Hongni Wu (Rosina), and bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi (Doctor Bartolo), all with a solid command of humor and romance in the tried-and-true staging by Emilio Sagi. Castejón’s choreography served somewhat as a “Greek chorus” in the intervals between the principal episodes of the narrative.
As always seems to be the case, that sense of humor was as fresh and engaging as it was in previous performances. This was particularly the case for the mimed performance of Berta given by Catherine Cook, who managed to find humor in just about every gesture. Similarly, there is no shortage of engaging and amusing tropes in the score for the orchestra, making the spirit of Conductor Benjamin Manis as valuable a contribution to the overall narrative as all of the activity up on the stage.
The month gave me the opportunity to attend both the opening and closing performances of The Barber of Seville. That meant seeing two different casts in action, each with its own sense of humor but also each with thoroughly engaging delivery. The Barber of Seville may be an “old-timer” in the SFO repertoire. Nevertheless, I have come away from every performance I have experienced over the years with a sense of freshness. Here is hoping that next season will also provide at least one opportunity for such a fresh and engaging approach to light comedy.
