Paris.(Il Barbiere di Siviglia)(Brief Article)

Coline Serreau's much-admired new production of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Opera National got its first change of cast in June, bringing to the Bastille stage Sophie Koch (Rosina), Dalibor Jenis (Figaro), Bruce Ford (Almaviva), Carlos Chausson (Bartolo) and Ferruccio Furlanetto (Basilio). The director, known for her recent, acclaimed film, Chaos, devised a simple concept, seeing Rossini's opera as a feminist battle between Rosina and Islamic tradition, Seville having being under Muslim domination for 400 years. The program notes were a classic piece of Parisian intellectual pretension, with lavish illustrations more suitable for a documentary on female oppression by the Taliban than for an opera buffa. True, Rossini's locked-up heroine is fair game for such an interpretation, but Bartolo's actions are based not on religious traditions but on very human frailty. Jean-Marc Stehle and Antoine Fontaine's lavish, attractive sets seemed more appropriate to Mozart's seraglio than to Rossini's barber.

Islamic historians and Beaumarchais scholars may object to Serreau's simplistic hijacking of the libretto, but the action was clearly and energetically projected, despite the acting style in the evening's early stages, involving cartoon-style capering and relentless miming to the rhythmic figures in the score. A more naturalistic style would have shown more confidence in the ...