{"id":3821,"date":"2010-03-11T01:30:29","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T08:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=3821"},"modified":"2010-03-23T05:56:16","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T12:56:16","slug":"il-barbiere-di-siviglia-opens-at-the-israeli-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=3821","title":{"rendered":"Il barbiere di Siviglia Opens at The Israeli Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Barber of Seville at the Israeli Opera\/Photo: Yossi Zwecker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rossini\u2019s Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) opens at the Israeli Opera on Friday, March 12. The best comedians and comedies tease the audience with a virtuoso performance that works within a particular role, story or genre while at the same time revealing its ridiculous aspects, as if to say: I can do all that \u2013 but I choose not to. Il barbiere di Siviglia takes a beautiful heroine, her controlling guardian and her ardent lover and turns the familiar story into a seriously funny performance. Midnight East was fortunate enough to attend the general rehearsal for this production directed by Mariame Cl\u00e9ment, with Niv Hoffman as revival director, and conducted by George Pehlivanian, with David Sebba conducting March 25 \u2013 27.<\/p>\n

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Rosina (Chen Reiss) and Figaro (Olivier Grand)\/Photo: Yossi Zwecker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the moment Figaro (Olivier Grand, alternating with Borja Quiza) steps out in his black jogging suit, singing at a breakneck pace while leaning casually against the wall, lighting a cigarette and engaging in other endearing male behaviors relating to walls, it is clear that this opera will be a very different kind of experience. Set in and around a dentist\u2019s office, the production takes many liberties \u2013 and gets away with them all, thanks to an amazing ensemble of talents. The comic effect is enhanced by the dissonance between the beauty and quality of the music and a parade of characters with the looks and mannerisms of televised soap operas rather than the opera stage. It sounds crazy \u2013 but it works.<\/p>\n

One of the funniest scenes takes place when Rosina sings to her lover Lindoro (who is really the Count Almaviva disguised as Lindoro disguised as a music teacher in sleazy 80s disco garb) and her guardian Dr. Bartolo. Soprano Chen Reiss (who alternates with Hila Baggio) adopted the artificial mannerisms of the would-be amateur singer and scheming coquettish Rosina, while at the same time conveying a sincere girlish awkwardness and perhaps even a degree of innocence as her love for the lounge lizard really made her hit those high notes. Bartolo meanwhile squirmed with pleasure, thinking that she was singing to him. Reiss\u2019 exquisite voice renders the scene even more hilarious \u2013 as a \u2018real\u2019 singer disguised as an amateur singer, winning the hearts of her audience onstage and off.<\/p>\n

It is a production that assumes a knowing, sophisticated audience, and plays on that knowledge. Yet even for the neophyte , it makes a delightful introduction.<\/p>\n

Il barbiere di Siviglia
\nIsraeli Opera, 19 Shaul Hamelech Blvd, Tel Aviv
\nPerformances: March 12 \u2013 27
\nDuration: approximately two hours and fifty minutes
\nAll performances are preceded by a one-hour introductory talk that takes place in the concert hall. The opera is sung in Italian with English surtitles.
\nBackstage tours before the show: 16.3, 20.3, 23.3, 24.3
\nOpera talkback: 13.3, 18.3, 23.3, 24.3
\nTickets: (175 \u2013 428 NIS) 03-692-7777<\/p>\n

AYELET DEKEL<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Rossini\u2019s Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) opens at the Israeli Opera on Friday, March 12. The best comedians and comedies tease the audience with a virtuoso performance that works within a particular role, story or genre while at the same time revealing its ridiculous aspects, as if to say: I can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}