An Afternoon at the Opera

 

The Barber of Seville performed its last show of the season to a packed house at the Arts Centre. And what a performance it was…

Melbourne is renowned for its talent and professionalism in the arts in all areas, including theatre, film, ballet, orchestral, jazz, rock, and painterly endeavors.

Attending a theatrical performance in the afternoon, a matinee is a real experience and treat. Even more so in this case, as The Barber of Seville’s season had come to a close, its last performance in the afternoon, something special for all opera lovers wanting light entertainment and music to delight the senses for the afternoon and hopefully that feeling lasting for the rest of the evening…

Let’s just admit that The Barber of Seville was, above all, entertaining and humorous in all aspects of the play. Still, the orchestra, The Victorian Orchestra, was absolutely superb, as the string section merged as one at the very start, the five violinists becoming one magical note…Figaro (Luke Gabbed) prances onto the stage, bragging and singing his own praises… It was an excellent performance and memorable because of the artist's evident love of his art form, having a great time, making it look so easy…

Rosina (Emma Matthews) was delightful on stage, her singing right on the mark until she needed to hit the high C: the woman did indeed reach a high C, but it sounded strained. However, (uncomfortable) the audience loved her because her performance was consistently excellent, funny, and endearing. Although opera seems a natural profession for the woman, she has the stage presence to do anything in the theatre, including, possibly, film… a charming performance.

Count Almaviva (Henry Choo), despite a believable performance, a beautiful voice, and acceptable acting, does not appear Italian. If one closes their eyes and listens to his voice, one would imagine a young and beautiful prince…but opening one’s eyes, one sees a petite Asian man with a beautiful voice. Does this disappoint the audience, seeing an obviously miss-cast-looking man, an Asian playing an Italian? However, during the loveliest songs, my eyes closed, and everything flowed, Henry Choo, rising to the occasion and doing a splendid job. An outstanding performance, natural and heart-felt, an impressive show…

My favorite performance had to be Fiorello, Almaviva’s servant, a character who, despite not singing one note, carried the show, bent over, scurrying across the stage, helping every actor, maintaining the necessary “lightness” that is so important to The Barber of Seville.”  Fiorello has always been a popular character since this opera was first performed so long ago.

Even though my experience with opera is less than acceptable, my training even less than most, The Australian Opera’s rendition of The Barber of Seville would stand among the best performances of the season.