The Barber of Seville at The Paramount 7/17 & 7/19

For all of the negative-energy detritus that Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) left smeared across popular culture, no one rioted upon its release—including the people camped out by movie theaters to see it first. But as the origin tale for a beloved sci-fi trilogy, there was no way it was going to meet such high expectations. Prequels can be tough. 

Gioachino Rossini’s masterpiece, The Barber of Seville (1868), is a prequel, too.

The zany romantic opera—based on the first of Pierre Beaumarchais’ three French comic plays—provided a backstory to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1786). 

The problem was that it wasn’t the first prequel—it was (at least) the fourth. One early attempt had been out for 34 years and its composer, Giovanni Paisiello, a scene veteran and Rossini rival, decided to whip his supporters into a frenzy in order to ruin the debut of what he considered an insult to his work. 

So like other seminal works that opened to audience violence (Stravinsky’s ballet Rite of Spring and Puccini’s Tosca come to mind), the Roman crowd at Barber were primed to tear the place apart before the show even started. And when it did, accounts told of all hell breaking loose on stage as well: a singer suffered a bloody face from a trapdoor, a guitar string snapped during a serenade, and a stray cat interrupted a scene.

All the performances that followed had no such issues.

And now with more than two centuries separating us from that mess, it’s safe to say the Charlottesville Opera’s production will offer a good-natured romp told through period costumes, hidden identities, and romantic intrigue; a fun, lovelorn lunacy overseen by experienced director Kyle Lang.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles, the sunny Spanish-set piece has a solid number of big hits you’ll immediately recognize, particularly “Largo al factotum” (aka “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!”). When conductor Djordje Nesic cues the orchestra for the first familiar strains of the two-act opera buffa’s overture, the Classical period’s best-known melodies will provide an invitation to a joyful escapade unencumbered by any dated CGI, precocious child actors, or Jar Jar Binks.—CM Gorey

CAUTION: The writer’s unrestrained cynicism and unresolved issues shape the writing of this opinion column. Results may vary.

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