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A scene from Rossini\u2019s \u201cThe Barber of Seville\u201d with Mary Hoskins as Berta, left, Maria Kataeva as Rosina, Renato Girolami as Doctor Bartolo, Riccardo Fassi as Don Basilio, Joshua Hopkins as Figaro, and Levy Sekgapane as Count Almaviva.<\/p>\n
Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera<\/p>\n
Love may drive the plot of \u201cThe Barber of Seville,\u201d but as an early line in Gioachino Rossini\u2019s comic opera notes, \u201cMoney works wonders.\u201d<\/p>\n
So it is for the characters and their actions, where almost everything about the affairs of the heart is transactional in one way or another. Disguises, a flurry of misguided and purloined love letters, a weaselly would-be snitch bought off with a flashy ring, and assorted bragging and backstabbing pile up through the libretto based on a play by the French writer Beaumarchais. The shenanigans in this 210-year-old bel canto repertory staple don\u2019t feel all that distant from our own age of duplicity and self-dealing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Director Emilio Sagi\u2019s production of \u201cBarber,\u2019 first seen at the War Memorial Opera House in 2013, returned on Thursday, May 28, in a lively but uneven revival from San Francisco Opera. Two different casts play in rotation through June 21.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Maria Kataeva as Rosina in Rossini\u2019s \u201cThe Barber of Seville.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera<\/p>\n
In an opera full of vain, foolish, and calculating men, it\u2019s somehow fitting that one of only two women onstage should give the richest and most textured performance. Making her U.S. debut on opening night, Russian mezzo-soprano Maria Kataeva made Rosina a delectable chameleon\u00a0\u2014 a swoony lover one moment, an antic clown the next and then a knowing mock-innocent. Her sensuous voice, with its purring warmth in the lower register and a steely top, was form-fitted to the buffeted but determined heroine.<\/p>\n
It helped, too, that Kataeva moved so liquidly, even in a layered, multicolored gown (designed by Pepa Ojanguren) that swallowed up most of her body. The singer leaned into the swirling, sultry flamenco dances choreographed by Nuria Castej\u00f3n that cropped up fitfully now and then.<\/p>\n
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Joshua Hopkins as\u00a0Figaro, left, Maria Kataeva as\u00a0Rosina and Levy Sekgapane as\u00a0Count Almaviva in\u00a0Rossini\u2019s \u201cThe Barber of\u00a0Seville.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera<\/p>\n
As Rosina\u2019s blustering guardian bent on marrying his pretty young ward, baritone Renato Girolami as Doctor Bartolo gave the other standout performance on opening night. Bolting around the stage in a perpetual, sputtering fury, he looked on the verge of exploding at any minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Barber of Seville\u201d: San Francisco Opera. Through June 21. $29-$447. War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., S.F. \u2022 Also available to livestream at 7:30 p.m. June 5. $35.415-864-3330. www.sfopera.com<\/a><\/p>\n But when he launched into one of Rossini\u2019s tongue-torturing patter songs or floated into a falsetto, Girolami was as nimble as a hummingbird. He even made a small comic triumph of falling out of a chair. It all added up to a gratifying blend of acting and vocal dexterity.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n