Opera / “The Barber of Seville”, Opera Australia. At Canberra Theatre, September 15. Reviewed by IAN McLEAN.

A GAGGLE of audaciously overgrown pink beards and moustaches lit up the stage as the sparkling overture to the Opera Australia touring production of “The Barber of Seville” galloped towards its conclusion and there was no thought other than – “hmmm, this is going to be a lot of fun!”

And it was. Maintaining the pink theme a candy-coloured ice cream cart-like portable barber shop appeared and the most popular of all opera comedies was underway.

Italian composer Rossini reputedly wrote “The Barber” in just 13 days. The need for speed forced him to borrow a tune or two from his earlier works and, included in the score, there are even hints of a trio from Haydn’s “The Seasons” and a Russian melody he’d heard in Rome. The original overture disappeared; the current version was originally composed for “Aureliano”, another of his operas. What a stroke of good fortune. 

The overture is amongst the best known works of light classical music, immortalised forever in Looney Tunes cartoons, particularly the 1950 “The Rabbit of Seville”, starring Elma Fudd and Bugs Bunny.

The complicated (and perhaps looney itself) story revolves around Count Almaviva who falls in love with Rosina – a beautiful proprietor of, in this version, a winery, the Sevilised Libations. 

However, she is not a free woman for, after the death of her parents, she became the ward of the cranky Dr Bartolo. He plans to marry her to get his hands on her inherited fortune so the count enlists the tricky Figaro, the master-of-disguise barber, to prise Rosina from Bartolo’s greedy clutches. Of course mistaken identities, more moustaches and general mayhem follow as the path to true love as always proves to be anything but straight.

This is an excellent production in all respects. The Michael Scott-Mitchell set is clever, multi-functional and completely adaptable for the rigours of a touring show while Sabina Myers’ costumes are colourful, “over the top” and fully aligned and complementary to the overall production design. 

Lighting by Morgan Moroney captures the mayhem mood particularly well; a rain scene is amazingly clever and effective. 

Director Priscilla Jackman has set the story in an Australian town actually called Seville, in the Victorian Yarra Valley wine region where she has successfully combined a contemporary Australian world of headline-making pop stars with the playfulness and showmanship demanded of Rossini’s music. The result is joyous.

Luke Spicer guides the period orchestra through the complex and demanding score with clarity and precision and what a delight to hear Canberra’s own Eliza Shephard in the pit mastering the fiendishly challenging flute part.

On stage Ester Song was a delightful Rosina, her famous “Una voce poco fa” aria well demonstrating her vocal versatility. The lovely tenor voice of Nicholas Jones soared as he matched excellent acting skills with vocal ability as Almaviva whilst bass Andrew Moran was delightful in both booming bass voice and characterisation as the greedy Dr Bartolo.

Haotian Qi lacked some vocal projection but brought a fine comic touch as the cunning Figaro while Shane Lowrencev, as the scandalmonger music teacher Don Basilio, almost stole the show with his variety of John Cleese-like silly walks and his interruption of Rossini to burst into a bar or two of “Lily the Pink”!

The supporting cast was strong and efficient in their dual stage hand and performer roles and, as is long standing Opera Australia practice, it was pleasing to see a local children’s choir, in this instance the Woden Valley Youth Choir, out of formal concert dress and into costume, and with obligatory moustaches, to perform the children’s parts.

This production has been touring continuously since July but the freshness, enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment amongst the company was infectious. “The Barber” is indeed a riotous romp and a fun night of classy entertainment.