UK Edition
The score bubbles along but Glyndebourne's new Barbiere lacks spark - review
Glyndebourne's new production of Rossini's farce isn't a disaster, says Rupert Christiansen, but it is a little on the effortful side
I don’t mind much what’s done to Il Barbiere di Siviglia. It’s only a shallow farce, intended to amuse, and I doubt Rossini would mind if it was transplanted on Planet Zog so long as it pulled the crowds and gave them a good night out.
At that level, Glyndebourne’s new staging may well do the business, although only Janis Kelly’s outrageous scene-stealing as the housekeeper Berta drew genuine laughter. But I had hoped that a director with Annabel Arden’s track record would come up with something more stylishly witty than she has here: this isn’t a show in the class of her Gianni Schicchi, L’Elisir d’amore or La Bohème.
Joanna Parker’s setting is broadbrush Hispanic, dominated by a wall of outsize ceramic blue tiles, but floating free of period or location to the point that interior and exterior aren’t clearly delineated and one loses any sense of Rosina’s incarceration. A surreal element, making Dalíesque play with the idea of disintegrating fortepianos, is merely baffling.
Within an environment that fails to contextualise or clarify the narrative, the singers try much too hard, gurning and grinning and winking at the audience with the frenzy of cartoon characters. Guess what, the end-result isn’t very funny, and only Alessandro Corbelli, a marvellously lugubrious Doctor Bartolo, both pathetic and nasty, presents anything approaching a real character.
Fortunately, the expert Enrique Mazzola is conducting and, with the help of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the score bubbles along on a Puckish current of merry mischief. My only quibble would be the interpolation of a turgid aria for Rosina before the storm scene: Rossini did sanction its inclusion at some point, but it slows things down without adding anything to the mix.
In any case, Rosina isn’t a role happily suited to Danielle de Niese, who relied too much on her facial charm and not enough on crisp, sparkling delivery of fast text and notes. As her beloved Almaviva, Taylor Stayton was much more polished and accurate, presenting a finely shaped account of “Ecco ridente”.
Björn Bürger, who bears a disconcerting resemblance to Eric Idle, was an ebullient Figaro, and Christophoros Stamboglis a burbling Basilio. In the tiny role of Fiorello, Huw Montague Rendall suggested a talent worth watching.
The sum of it is not a disaster by any means, but I’ve seen less effortful productions of this opera that are much sharper and sparkier.
Until July 17. Tickets: 01273 815000; glyndebourne.com