Houston.(North America)(The Barber of Seville)(Opera Review)

Houston Grand Opera served up a delicious treat with its new production of The Barber of Seville, seen on April 25. Directed by Australian Lindy Hume in her American debut, Barber successfully blended an updated setting of 1950s-'60s rock-infused Seville with Rossini's hilarious opera buffa. American symbols of excess peppered the stage--from the drop-dead maroon Buick convertible that brought the Count onstage and the steel-gray Vespa for Figaro's entrance to the big poster of Elvis that adorned Rosina's teenybopper bedroom. Hume's creative team, including designer Dan Potra and lighting artist Nigel Levings, brilliantly established a comic rhythm that was both consistent with Barber's eighteenth-century roots (in Beaumarchais) and thoroughly hip in its retro tone. Such a postmodernist mix risks satirizing the original. But this production rarely crossed the line, and through its modern, sensibility it revealed things that made one appreciate the Rossini all the more. Appealing revolving sets multiplied locations and provided space for the characters to move freely. Garish spots on pop images and background projections of set details, such as wallpaper stripes or piano keys, played up the comic conceit of the updating. Hip surtitles, as in "You could try the old serenade bit," popped up occasionally, but limited use prevented a feeling of conflict with the older music and text.

The wonderful ensemble cast was ideally suited to the dud framework, with natural movements but a historical approach to Rossini's demanding vocal style. Joyce DiDonato's velvety ...