THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
THE OPERA-MAD ITALIANS filing into Rome's Teatro Argentina showed up with an attitude.
``Il Barbiere di Siviglia'' had been set to music decades earlier by the revered Giovanni Paisiello, and his supporters were out en masse to condemn this new adaptation by Gioacchino Rossini. When the composer, dressed in a gaudy, Spanish-style suit with gold buttons, sat down at the harpsichord to conduct, he was welcomed with a chorus of boos and hisses.
Opening night then plunged straight downhill.
The lead tenor popped a string on his untuned guitar. The bass stumbled and nearly broke his nose; it bled throughout his aria. A cat stalked across stage and refused to leave. That was just in the first act. Greatness, though, will not be denied.
The 24-year-old Rossini, who once boasted, ``Give me a laundry list and I will set it to music,'' was unperturbed. He finished the performance. The next day, he fine-tuned the score. That night, the opera played to wide acclaim. Rossini, feigning illness, stayed home in bed.
Today, ``The Barber of Seville'' is not only regarded as his masterpiece, but the most popular comic opera in the repertoire.
Why? Baritone James Bobick, who sings the title role in the Virginia Opera production opening Friday, has a pet theory.
``I'm fully convinced that it's because it represents what is fun in life,'' he said. ``My character, Figaro, even says it: `What a good life,' then he's off to work.
``It involves animosity and jockeying, but the audience enjoys it because it's all from the perspective that, no matter what happens, you can't take life seriously.''
The opera is based on the first of two plays about the crafty barber by the French dramatist Beaumarchais. (The second is ``The Marriage of Figaro,'' set by Mozart in 1786.) In a nutshell, Count Almaviva is in love with Rosina, the wealthy ward of the unlikable Dr. Bartolo. The doctor, with a greedy eye on Rosina's dowry, intends to marry her himself.
Will true love prevail? Enter Figaro. He reaches deep into his bag of tricks and pulls out a happy ending for everybody.
Zehava Gal has been involved in Figaro's little conspiracies before, having sung the role of Rosina in Scotland, Germany, The Netherlands, Washington, D.C., and her native Israel.
But the raven-haired mezzo-soprano isn't so familiar that she doesn't expect to learn something new about her character during ``Barber's'' Norfolk run.
``You have to do it again and again to develop,'' she said. ``If you're not coming back, you're not being an artist. It's like being a pianist and playing the same sonata by Beethoven, Bach or Mozart. Why do you come back to it a million times?
``When you make music, it's so abstract. Painting is more of a physical thing - you have to touch it to know that it exists. Music, you create all the time. It is never the same. With Rosina, that process is the most important part of being a success.''
As is going into a new production open to new ideas. Gal said she's learned just as much about Rosina by listening to others.
``You should never be satisfied,'' she said. ``Be a perfectionist. Be disciplined. If you're satisfied, go work in an office from 9 to 5. I shouldn't say that, but it's different with an artist. It is my responsibility in front of an audience.''
Returning to a character also allows the singer to reinvent it, Bobick said. Familiarity can't be discounted, either. The first time he sang Figaro, he was thinking more about style and pitch.
``Now, not only are my experiences broader, I'm not wondering if that run on Page 136 is clear.
``You can add another dimension to (the role). I'm having fun using my perspective on life and giving it to Figaro. I like him. You can't say that about every character, but Figaro you can like objectively. He's a great guy. Everything he does is out of his love for life.''
Even better, Bobick said, the good-natured barber's joie de vivre has been infectious, creating an esprit de corps among cast and crew that audiences will pick up on with the opening curtain.
``It's like going to a cocktail party where everyone shares your interests. You have that palpable chemistry. You can raise that swell and ride it all the way to the beach.'' MEMO: GIOACCHINO ROSSINI BIOGRAPHY\ Born: Feb. 29, 1792, in Pesaro, Italy
Died: Nov. 13, 1868, in Paris
Born into a musical family, Rossini mastered the violin, viola and
harpsichord by the age of 14. Seven years later, he was one of Italy's
most celebrated opera composers.
``The Barber of Seville,'' based on the play by Beaumarchais, was
first performed Feb. 20, 1816, at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. Rossini,
24 at the time, wrote it in 15 days.
Rossini finished 38 operas by the time he was 37. The story goes that
he never wrote another after ``William Tell'' (1829) because composing
had become too much like work. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by BILL TIERNAN, The Virginian-Pilot
Zehava Gal and James Bobick star in Virginia Opera's "The Barber of
Seville."
by CNB