'Barber of Seville' from Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia

The Academy of Vocal Arts is having such success at placing its young artists in high operatic places that you can easily approach its productions not as a mere opera lover but as an armchair talent scout.

It's a mentality based not on what you like but on how far along any given singer may be. And at Saturday's opening of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, the potential was high - though some singers needed time to show all they could do.

The opera's combination of farcical comedy, silly disguises, and intricate vocal athleticism seemed just a bit beyond tenor Diego Silva, whose character of Count Almaviva poses as a drunken soldier, prim music teacher, and romantic student in an effort to win the woman he loves. And when the news surfaced at intermission that Silva would sing the often-cut, insanely difficult Act II aria, you saw Waterloo coming. Yet he pulled it off, not spectacularly but well enough to suggest you watch him in the future.

The quicksilver mentality of the Figaro character demands incredibly precise singing, one reason why Sherrill Milnes was the Figaro of choice for decades. Steven LaBrie is not that kind of baritone (one imagines him in more lyrical Puccini roles) but he made the role work on his own terms thanks to a roguish presence.

Musa Ngqungwana's buffoonish Dr. Bartolo was well sung and suitably comic, even if you longed to hear his sonorous baritone in more substantial German art song.

The one characterization that was all there was Sydney Mancasola's Rosina. Her combination of deep-colored voice, solid technique, and general sense of fun was something any right-minded opera company would jump at.

One curious disappointment: mezzo-soprano Margaret Mezzacappa, who already has a blossoming career and played the small comic role of Berta. Her ham-fisted vocalism was the sort heard from singers who don't entirely believe in what they're singing, and indeed, Berta's one aria is hardly top-drawer Rossini.

Given the challenges of shoehorning opera into AVA's in-house Helen Corning Warden Theater, the production was quite good. After the opening street scene, haphazard suggestions of a set were pulled away to reveal a handsome interior for Dr. Bartolo's home (designed by Peter Harrison) that the rest of the opera graciously inhabited.

In his program notes, stage director Marc Verzatt discussed his collaborative approach with the cast, and it showed in how comfortable everybody seemed, including in moments of disarming originality. Casting a stentorian bass, Patrick Guetti, as the comic meddler Basilio was unusual, but made sense in a characterization that suggested Lurch, the butler in The Addams Family, with a diva's ego. Jokey, shticky moments arose here and there, but not enough to seriously wear out their welcome, in what was generally a character-based approach to the fluffy proceedings.

Conductor Richard Raub kept everything in the right place but showed only a passing sense of Rossinian lightness of touch. High-traffic ensemble passages felt more like gridlock. Rossini's music works so much better when held back a bit, letting you meet it halfway - or more.

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