Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501270027
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Nevertheless, "The Barber of Seville" triumphed over adversity to be recognized as one of the greatest operas ever written, and it's coming to Radford University Monday night. The New York City Opera National Company production of Gioachino Rossini's masterpiece plays at 8 p.m. in Preston Hall auditorium.
Known for no-nonsense traditional stagings of the basic repertoire, City Opera typically features up-and-coming young singers in its touring company, some of whom have gone on to great careers. This production stars Daniel Mobbs, a young baritone who hopes one day to sing the role at the Met, in the title role of Figaro the barber.
The show also has bass-baritone Thomas Hammons as Dr. Bartolo, mezzo-soprano Julia Anne Wolf as his lovely ward Rosina (a role frequently sung by a soprano), tenor Richard Drews as the lecherous Count Almaviva, and bass Ding Gao as Rosina's music master Don Basilio.
The plot revolves around Almaviva's attempts to woo Rosina, jealously guarded by Dr. Bartolo, who wants to marry the girl himself. After courting Rosina in the town square in the guise of a poor student, Almaviva enlists Figaro in his campaign and finagles his way into Rosina's house by pretending to be a drunken soldier with a forged billeting order.
Almaviva later returns as a phony substitute for Rosina's music teacher, and the wily Figaro, while shaving Bartolo, steals the house key which Almaviva plans to use in eloping.
After much adventure, bribery and stripping away of layers of identity, a happy marriage finally ensues - for which Figaro takes no small degree of credit.
The first performance of "The Barber of Seville," on Feb. 20, 1816, was one of the all-time great opera disasters. The reason was Italian operatic politics, whose ferocity is nearly incomprehensible to modern audiences. Italian opera composers drew rabid partisan mobs which cheered the work of their own man and booed productions by rivals. For an idea of what it could be like, imagine the Met filled with English soccer fans - only not so polite.
Not only was the "Barber" ambushed by fans of another composer, but a string broke on Almaviva's guitar as he serenaded Rosina under her balcony, forcing him to replace it to the accompaniment of hooting and jeering. When the audience finally calmed down, the singer who played Figaro made the mistake of entering with a second guitar, triggering another round of laughter and whistling which drowned out his great aria "Largo al factotum." Contemporary accounts say that not a single note of the last act was audible over the racket from the audience.
Mobbs, 27, is anticipating a better night when City Opera comes to Preston Hall. Mobbs says the company has worked the kinks out of this production, which was staged by Richard McKee of the Syracuse Opera.
"This show is without a lot of gimmicks and hokiness. It's very clever but it's not overdone," he said.
"But it's a tough role for Figaro. It has a very big range and requires a lot of singing in the upper part of the baritone voice, up to a high G and a couple of high As in the 'Largo.'
"You don't get a chance to walk out and introduce yourself. You have to walk out and hit the big tune - Figaro's most famous aria, the "Largo al factotum,'" the singer said.
Mobbs, who was raised in Louisville, is one of the few opera singers who turned down a career in ballet. As a theater major at a performing arts high school in Louisville, he both danced and sang and only settled on the opera stage at graduation.
In over a century and a half, many legendary baritones have left their mark on the role of Figaro, but Mobbs says he has no particular role models in mind.
"I guess I'm nontraditional, but I don't listen to a lot of recordings. I just do a lot of studying and listen to my teachers and coaches. Millions of baritones have done this role, many better than me, but I have to learn my own way," Mobbs said.
In some productions of "The Barber of Seville," the role of Rosina is sung by a coloratura soprano. But in this City Opera production, Rosina is mezzo Julia Anne Wolf.
"That adds a different color to the whole show. A coloratura sings a lot of extra high notes and runs, which a mezzo can do too, but it doesn't show off the same notes. It makes the character of Rosina a lot more sultry."
Mobbs is in his second season with City Opera, which provides him with seven to nine months of work per year. Describing his voice as "bright" and "very loud," Mobbs considers Figaro and Papageno (in Mozart's "The Magic Flute") his two favorite roles, "because the baritone gets to be the audience favorite instead of the tenor or soprano."
Mobbs says he'd like to debut at the Met with one of these roles, an event he hopes will take place in about three years.
``The Barber of Seville'' Previous City Opera productions at Preston Hall have been sell-outs. As of midweek there were still a few tickets left. Tickets are free for Radford University students, faculty and staff, $6 for faculty and staff dependents, $6 for children 12 and under and for groups of 15 or more, and $12 for nonstudents.
by CNB