[Met Performance] CID:270370



Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, October 25, 1982




Il Barbiere di Siviglia (390)
Gioachino Rossini | Cesare Sterbini
Figaro
Dale Duesing

Rosina
Maria Ewing

Count Almaviva
Dalmacio Gonzalez

Dr. Bartolo
Gabriel Bacquier

Don Basilio
Jerome Hines

Berta
Loretta Di Franco

Fiorello
Norman Andersson

Sergeant
Anthony Laciura

Ambrogio
Peter Sliker


Conductor
Emil Tchakarov


Production
John Cox

Set Designer
Robin Wagner

Costume Designer
Patricia Zipprodt

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Stage Director
David Sell





Il Barbiere di Siviglia received sixteen performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Bernard Holland in The New York Times
Opera: “Barbieri Siviglia”

Rossini’s "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" returned Monday to the Metropolitan Opera for the first-time this season. John Cox's production is still a pleasant one to see — with the soft interiors of Robin Wagner, Gil Wechsler's recreations of blanketing Spanish sunlight, the cleverly used revolving set and a very imaginative rainstorm each adding to the cumulative charm.


Maria Ewing created a wide-eyed, vacant and slightly zany Rosina, handling Rossini's rapid fire delivery very surely and tending toward stridency only in the upper reaches of her voice. It is a strong characterization and filled with delicate small touches.


Gabriel Bacquier was absolutely splendid as Bartolo. He is a precise comic actor, and his taste and technique translated Rossini's vocal acrobatics into musical and dramatic terms. Jerome Hines was the sly and satisfying Basilio, warm of voice and careful never to overplay the part.


Almaviva, sung here by Dalmacio Gonzalez was more of a disappointment. Mr. Gonzalez's tenor was pleasant enough when operating at its leisure; but in the face of stress, it became strangled and distressed at its top and uncertain in its lower register. Dale Duesing as Figaro also sounded forced at times, but his vocal agility and comic timing tended to take our minds off his physical limitations.


Loretta Di Franco was an excellent Berta, and the other principals – Norman Andersson, Peter Sliker and Anthony Lecture –all did well.


For Emil Tchakarov, the evening's conductor, it was not a very distinguished evening. The orchestra sounded bedraggled in ensemble, in intonation and in quality of sound, and there was a blurred coordination between Mr. Tchakarov and his singers —in particular, a tendency on his part to rush and crowd them — that caused a pervasive uneasiness between pit and stage most of the night.

Review 2:

Bill Zakariasen in the Daily News
The Controversial “Barber” of the Met

It was sort of an everyone-for-himself situation Monday night as the Metropolitan Opera brought back its restaged version of the controversial John Cox production of Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Seviglia.” The largely new cast didn’t offer much in the way of ensemble spirit (and the alternately over-driven and draggy conducting of Emil Tchakarov was of little help), but there were happy moments in some individual solo contributions.


The big hit of the evening was mezzo-soprano Maria Ewing, singing her first Rosina with the company. On this occasion resembling a young Elsa Lanchester, she proved an expert mistress of off-beat humor, and while she pressed the top and bottom of her scale too much, the precision of her coloratura filigree was something to recall old 78 records by Conchita Supervia. As expected, baritone Gabriel Bacquier was a grand master of comic pacing as the befuddled Dr. Bartolo, actually giving some believable humanity to this role and singing it with welcome accuracy of articulation.


Handsome tenor Dalmacio Gonzalez looked and acted the part of Count Almaviva exceedingly well, though sometimes he pushed his attractive voice out of focus. Baritone Dale Duesing sang Figaro, with alert musicality, but a toothy grin seemed the extent of his dramatic abilities. Veteran basso Jerome Hines (looking like an Oxford don attempting to elude Laurel and Hardy) was again an amusing, firmly-vocalized Don Basilio. Loretta Di Franco, Norman Andersson, Anthony Laciura and Peter Sliker gave able support in smaller roles, and the Goya-esque revolving sets by Robin Wagner once again earned well-deserved applause.



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