Figaro figaro figaro figaro… Figaro. I believe most of us are familiar with Gioachino Rossini’s Figaro either from a movie at some point or at the very least from Bugs Bunny’s comic version of it. When I first heard it, I do not remember for the life of me but I have remembered Figaro since then. I’ve remembered it without knowing who wrote it or what opera it was from. All I knew was that I remembered it perfectly, the melody and the words.
Such is the magic of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.” For someone who has never experienced opera in all its grandeur before, the 200-year-old reigning masterpiece of Rossini’s was a brilliant first choice. Opera however has always been considered the performing art of choice for those who hold an appreciation for the brilliantly opulent. It is not frequented or known by many our age. And perhaps that should give us pause for concern, because the death of such a theatrical tradition with the generation before us would truly be tragic. Opera has a unique way of holding you spellbound and we’d be hard-pressed to find such a thing elsewhere.
Rossini’s comedic work therefore held everyone in the audience transfixed for the length of an almost three-hour show. I’ve heard people say that opera is beautiful, however, I could never see it. The big voices and the foreign way of singing always seemed a tad alien to me. It was only when I experienced firsthand the Count serenading his love within the first act of the show, that I understood the beauty in opera. More specifically, the beauty in Rossini’s work performed by the Madison Opera and the talented harmonies performed by the amazing Madison Symphony Orchestra.
As expected, “The Barber of Seville” was also rife with all your Italian opera cliches. Would it even be opera without these cliches though? I highly doubt that. But the actors adeptly handled the exaggerated slapstick elements of this comedy that despite being old, repetitive and tiresome still manage to coax a chuckle out of you. Kudos to the Overture for making an excellent choice by deciding to end its season with “The Barber of Seville.” Theater and art connoisseurs within Madison flocked to their final big opera this past weekend, and did not leave disappointed.
