Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Opera House - opening night report

Il barbiere di Siviglia - Royal Opera House, 4 July 2009 (first night)

What a night!

I won't dwell on Joyce DiDonato's painful accident (see here for the gruesome details). But I will again marvel at her incredible willpower and determination to forge on and deliver an amazing performance, worthy of Rosina herself. She sang just as brilliantly as she did at the final rehearsal, with guts and panache. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's rigorously choreographed direction placed her every single note in dramatic context - each one of those trills and turns is linked to the action. And she didn't let them down, even in the tempesta scene where she had to swipe all the furniture to the floor in anger - not easy with a crutch in hand.

But it wasn't just Joyce who made the evening so special. It was an incredible performance all round, one of the greatest I can remember at Covent Garden. Perfectly cast, brilliantly sung from top to bottom, played with freshness and precision - and a production which for all its crayon-bright buffoonery digs intelligently right to the heart of the work. And thigh boots too! What more can a girl ask?

Juan Diego Flórez was perfection itself, his Ecco ridente just meltingly delicious, his comic timing superb. And he - deservedly - got the longest ovation I've ever heard for that snake-pit of fiendish coloratura, Cessa di più resistere. Five minutes? I didn't count. So long that Alessandro Corbelli, staying in character as Bartolo, got a few more laughs by checking his watch.

In any other cast, Corbelli and the great Ferruccio Furlanetto would have stolen the show. Corbelli's unbelievably precise patter in Un dottor della mia sorte and his brilliantly-detailed faux-bad singing lesson aria were a masterclass in buffo technique. And his bumbling avuncular characterisation had the great advantage of making the ending far more credible.

It makes me happier to see the name of Ferruccio Furlanetto on a cast list than any number of overpaid divas. His Don Basilio was an awe-inspiring and utterly original creation, bizarre and faintly sinister, sure to give any children lucky enough to attend the show a few bad dreams. His La calunnia - a brilliantly choreographed assault on Bartolo's person and sanity that ended with the lanky Furlanetto's twisted round Corbelli's humpty-dumpty form - was simply one of the greatest performances I've ever seen on stage.

The late sub Pietro Spagnoli was an able and amiable Figaro. The voice is not particularly refined, but it's big and warm, and he held his own amongst his starry colleagues.

His finest moment came early on in the evening. Entering from the back of the auditorium, he made his way down the aisle singing Largo al factotum, pausing here and there to menace the expensively-seated customers with his tools, eliciting a mixture of genuine amusement and nervous smiles. Then - golazo! Was it coincidence, a wager, or is he really chasing that one-star review? - he waved his scissors in the face of Britain's grumpiest opera critic - who is clearly no fan of audience participation. Talk about an f-off glare - I thought I'd die laughing.

Even the smaller parts were brilliantly taken. The prosthetically-enhanced Jennifer Rhys-Davies was hilarious as Berta, though the ending of her aria shouldn't be nearly as funny as the directors make it. She is after all singing about how love has passed her by, one of the few moments where emotional truth pierces through the rigid stylisation the opera owes to its French origins in the drama of Beaumarchais. And Changhan Lim really made a mark as Fiorello - he can sing (a strong, warm baritone), he can act, and, importantly, he didn't look outclassed sharing a stage with Juan Diego Flórez.

Finally, Tony Pappano, managing both the orchestra and the harpsichord continuo (how did he find the time to rehearse with everything he's been doing recently?) practically reinvented the score. Light, witty, fresh, perfectly balanced, and as minutely detailed as the production itself. It's one of the finest things he's ever done at Covent Garden. At last we could hear what Beethoven raved about.

Standing ovation? You bet:

***** MANY more photos on the next page ******

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

double-click on any of these photos to open a larger version:

 

 

 

 

 

 

the directors, Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Hariclea]

I don't think.. no, actually i know! I have never experienced a night like yesterday! I've never spontaneously shouted like that :-) I've still been floating for half a day today... beyond words and soooooooooo much fun!!! Brilliant!!! :-) I want mooooooooooooooooreee!!! :-)

An the ensembles... wowww!! the way they sounded with the house moving and shaking thema about? abbsolute perfection in timing with clear, crisp and spot on musical effects. It felt like the good ol' Barbiere was reborn again, fresh and new and absolutely sparkling!

[Hal]

Wouldn't it be wonderful if this performance got onto a DVD? Completely unique.

[dolcevita]

Thanks for a great report. After reading it I feel like a part of me was there.

" Talk about an f-off glare "

Hahaha... I'd pay only to see that. LOL

[Vera]

How I want to be there! A dream, but impossible.

[silver]

I'm green with envy here. Someone please tell me this is going to be released on DVD, or at the very least broadcasted in some form or another. Pleasepleaseplease.

(Hi there. Long-time reader, first-time commenter. I love your blog!)

[Manou]

Any news on whether DiDonato will soldier on? If not, who is lined up to replace her (as if anyone could)?

I vote they equip her spotty chair with wheels and keep her singing!

[Ed]

Fantastic wasn't it?!

I hate doing it, but can't help to think - what if we had Keenlyside thrown in too? Spagnoli did a good job, but vocally can't quite match Keenlyside - in my view anyway. And a little too much with the arm movement (director's thing maybe?).. made me think of Bob Wilson's panned production of Aida.

Anyway, that aside, it didn't matter at all.. everyone was on top top form. JDF had the longest applause I'd ever witenessed - deservedly so. Donato was utterly superb, pre and post accident. And how hilarious was Furlanetto!?

Also - it was only a matter of time - I'm in your audience photo. Not standing. Bah humbug :-)

[Jacky T]

Oh it was just amazing. I'm still floating on air, even after several of us waited until midnight at the stage door ... in vain. He'd slipped away, but who can blame him, having sung half the opera holding up his co-star? He must have been exhausted. As for that final aria in Act II: the applause just went on and on and the floor shook. What a magical evening. As Joyce DiDonato was wheeled away from the stage door to an ambulance she waved her crutch and blew kisses to us.

[The Ballet Bag]

A fantastic & unforgettable evening! And to think that I was counting on all my operatic highlights of the season to be Wagnerian...

Re. the Golazo = RC's review just in, not a one star but - perhaps even more surprising - a "one note", could that be all he has to say?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/rupertchristiansen/5769142/Rossinis-Il-Barbiere-di-Siviglia-at-Covent-Garden.html

[y2k]

I'm jealous that you guys got to experience this. But no fear, JDF & DiDonato will be singing Il Barbiere later this year @ LA Opera. I just bought a ticket, I'm surprised it's not sold out yet.

I now have 5 months to figure out the logistics of getting there, since I do live 1500 miles away.

I wonder who is singing the role of Almaviva on Nov 29? LA Opera website indicates JDF will be, but on JDF's website schedule, it's not showing Nov 29. Perhaps an oversight on JDF's website.

[y2k]

I forgot to mention: for those living in the US, the Met in HD is showing a rerun of the 2007 Il Barbiere performance later this month at theatres. JDF and DiDonato were in that production.
http://www.ncm.com/Fathom/Opera/Met_TheBarber_Enc.aspx