Joyce DiDonato has played Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Paris, San Francisco, London, Pesaro and Tokyo. She is due to perform it shortly in Bologna and New York. It must be difficult travelling the world with a role and slotting oneself into whatever cock-eyed idea the local director has for the opera. She probably felt that difficulty most acutely in the ghastly 2005 production from Covent Garden. She should have happier memories of this 2002 production from Paris Opera. This must be the most beautiful opera production I have ever seen. The stage director, Coline Serreau, takes her, rather tenuous, cue from the fact that Seville has Moorish connections. This is a completely Moorish version of Il Barbiere, set in a riot of fretted woodwork, like a Moroccan birdcage. Good use is made of the revolving stage to change the scene from the outside to the inside of Doctor Bartolo's palace and back again. At Covent Garden, Miss DiDonato was made to dress like Olivia Newton John on acid but here she is most fetchingly dressed in purple flowing robes. All the costumes are beautiful with the exception of Figaro, who looks as though he took a wrong turn on the way to a matinée performance of Aladdin.
However, in creating the most beautiful Barbiere ever, Mme Serreau seems to have omitted to tell her cast that they are performing in a comedy. The multinational cast of operatic big-hitters are technically very competent but never seem to get inside their characters. It is almost as if they do not know what they are singing about as when Dalibor Jenis, as Figaro, gestures in the wrong directions when singing "Figaro qua, Figaro là, Figaro su, Figaro giù
" Even the wonderful sextet at the end of Act I falls flat, as though the cast is giving a concert performance. The only decent joke in the piece is when Rosina appears at the window for the first time dressed from head to toe in a burqa and Roberto Saccà, as Almaviva sings "My goddess, my treasure, at last I can see you". Elsewhere, the beautiful set gets in the way of the music as when Miss DiDonato has to sing "Una voce poco fa" from behind a fretwork trellis.
While most of the cast seem to be phoning-in their performances, Jeannette Fischer, in the tiny role of Berta, Rosina's maid, has her big break. She fizzes with energy whenever she is on stage. Berta's only function in the opera is to provide the other soprano voice in the ensembles. Rossini gives her one aria, which is cut in most productions. Fortunately, here in Paris, Mlle Fisher is allowed to erupt onto the stage to sing "Che vecchio sospettoso", hitching up her crotch and karate chopping as she goes. What bliss, I hope she goes far.
