“The Barber of Seville” is one of those legendary classical titles that make for a good first opera. Thanks to composer Gioachino Rossini’s bright score, it moves at a good clip and gives singers plenty of chances to wow the audiences.
Nearly two centuries after its premiere at the Teatro Argentina in Rome, it remains boldly funny. Librettists never get the credit they deserve, so let’s give a cheer to Cesare Sterbini for writing Italy’s first quality sitcom all those years ago. The work is easy to like.
Central City Opera’s current production, which is fresh and well-sung, understands the strengths of this particular musical commodity and goes with them. The staging is colorful and the vocals are showy. If you’ve never been to the old mining town to see an opera, this would indeed be a swell starter.
If you have seen “Barber” a bunch of times, you’ll get the nuances here, or frankly, the all-out decision by director Marc Astafan to avoid nuance. Everything is played broadly, the acting, the costumes and the set. This is Rossini pumped up for laughs and it succeeds in delivering them.
There’s a lot to bring together with this piece, whose plot is centered on the captive Rosina. Young, and lovely, she is about to be married to her cranky old caretaker Don Bartolo — unless the barber Figaro can pull off a plot to unite her with the love-struck Count Almaviva.
Director Astafan lets things evolve out loud. All the characters go big, but they go there together, and the consistency gives this a production a strong personality. Turns out the volume is just right, and the tiny, historic opera house can handle the noise. At Saturday night’s performance, conductor John Baril mastered well the difficult art of joining instruments and vocals. There was balance and an endearing partnership between the stage and the pit.
At Central City, casting is everything. With just 550 seats — one fourth of Denver’s Ellie Caulkins Opera House — productions there can feel more like a dinner party than a night at the theater. You are quick to size up your companions on any given evening and deem charming or not.
This was a winning crowd. Roundly, the singers found their parts and performed them impressively. Singers tend to make their way back to Central City, so you want to note their names.
Daniel Belcher sang a Figaro that was crafty and nimble while Patrick Carfizzi vocalized a Bartolo both sharp and mature. David Portillo’s Count and Jennifer Rivera’s Rosina wavered between sonic purity and desperate lust.
They all did a little more mugging than “Barber” usually gets, though there was a style to it. And they had little choice if they were to stand out in designer Sara Jean Tosetti’s circus-colored costumes or wig man Dave Bova’s plumped, pinked hairdos.
Everyone was playing on the same team here and that included scenery designer Arnulfo Maldonado, who kept Rosina trapped in a giant, gilded birdcage with a spiral staircase. It was a star player in its own right.
Clearly this was not the production team’s first opera, and likely it was their hundredth. But they gave the late, great Cesare Sterbini the respect his funny bits deserved.
“The Barber of Seville” continues through July 27 with afternoon and evening performances. The Central City Opera House is at 124 Eureka St., Central City. 303-292-6700 or centralcityopera.org.
Ray Mark Rinaldi: 303-954-1540, rrinaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/rayrinaldi