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<\/p>\nEven those possessing little more than a passing familiarity with opera will recognize parts of The Barber of Seville<\/i>. Composed by Gioachino Rossini and premiering in Rome in 1816, the opera buffa<\/i> (comic opera) is among the most beloved works of the genre. And the work\u2019s influence has become part of popular culture: as Stephen Lawless, stage director of Opera San Jos\u00e9\u2019s production of The Barber of Seville<\/i> notes, \u201cevery day you put the TV on, there\u2019s an advert that features the Figaro aria [\u2018Largo al factotum\u2019] somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawless notes, too, that music from the opera found extensive usage in Bugs Bunny<\/i> and Tom and Jerry<\/i> cartoons, bringing that spirited variety of classical music to successive generations generations. \u201cThe music just bubbles,\u201d Lawless says. \u201cIt\u2019s full of that Mediterranean warmth and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lawless \u2013 who makes his Opera San Jos\u00e9 debut with this opera \u2013 has directed well over 100 productions. He got his start at age 19 as a stage manager for famed composer-conductor Benjamin Britten, going on to direct performances all over the globe. But he points to an earlier experience that opened him up to the power and wonder of live performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up near Stratford-Upon-Avon,\u201d he explains. \u201cMy school used to go see the Royal Shakespeare Company.\u201d In his final year of school, Lawless was in the audience for what he characterizes as an \u201cabstract\u201d RSC production of Richard II<\/i>. \u201cI was aware for the first time that the event was being \u2013 I can only use this word \u2013 manipulated<\/i> by somebody,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd that was the director.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawless says that singular experience inspired him into the world of directing \u201cbecause I saw the possibilities of what a director could do, could be<\/i>.\u201d And Lawless brings that sense of enthusiasm and adventure to the OSJ production of The Barber of Seville<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The performance, which ran November 11-26, starred Ricardo Jos\u00e9 Rivera as the scheming Figaro; Dale Travis as Dr. Bartolo, possessive guardian of lovestruck Rosina (Nikola Adele Printz); and Joshua Sanders as Rosina\u2019s suitor Count Almaviva. OSJ Director of Music Joseph Marcheso conducts the comic opera.<\/p>\n
Asked what sets Opera San Jos\u00e9 apart from the many companies with which he has worked, Lawless doesn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cShawna Lucey,\u201d he says. General Director and CEO of OSJ, Lucey\u2019s extensive prior experience includes several years as Lawless\u2019 assistant. \u201cShe studied in Russia, and she came with me to the Bolshoi,\u201d he says. He admits that if anyone other than Lucey has asked him to direct The Barber of Seville<\/i>, \u201cI probably would have said no, because I did endless revivals of it. I thought I\u2019d had my fill of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last time Lawless directed the opera was in the mid 1990s in Belfast, \u201cbetween bombings of the opera house,\u201d he recalls. \u201cGoing back to it now has been a real revelation,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s much<\/i> more to it than I remember from doing it nearly 30 years ago.\u201d Lawless believes that there are many things special about The Barber of Seville<\/i> that set it apart from other operas.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst,\u201d he says with a chuckle, \u201cit\u2019s shortish, and there\u2019s not a huge chorus involved.\u201d So production is less of an uphill climb than, say, Mozart\u2019s The Magic Flute<\/i>. More importantly, though, the 207-year old work explores timeless themes. \u201cIt\u2019s fundamentally about class,\u201d Lawless says. \u201cIt’s about how people with<\/i> money use people without<\/i> money \u2013 who want<\/i> money \u2013 to further their ends.\u201d He describes the tone of The Barber of Seville<\/i> as \u201cjoyously cynical about human behavior. And I think that its comedy has worn well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawless promises that attendees who have seen performances of Rossini\u2019s opera before can expect something new with the OSJ production. \u201cThere are only a small number of operas regularly performed all over the world: 30, absolute tops,\u201d he says. \u201cThe duty of people like myself, the conductor and the cast is to reinvent them every time so that there is a freshness. After 200 years of crud has accumulated on the piece, we scrape some of that away!\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawless\u2019 enthusiasm for the work seemingly knows no bounds. And he believes that The Barber of Seville<\/i> can serve as the perfect introduction for someone who\u2019s never seen an opera performance. \u201cOpera is the amalgamation of all the art forms: painting, music, drama,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cIt is the toughest and the greatest of all the art forms. We have a great cast and everything else. And when opera works, there is nothing better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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