Tonight: Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Tonight: Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Cast:
Conductor: Frédéric Chaslin
Rosina: Elina Garanca
Count Almaviva: Jose Manuel Zapata
Figaro: Franco Vassallo
Dr. Bartolo: Maurizio Muraro
Don Basilio: Ruggero Raimondi

A friend of a friend hooked us up with these tickets. I was excited to see Elina Garanca in her Met debut and I was not disappointed. She's a mezzo with a heavier voice than Graham or DiDonato, but it's a lovely voice. It's full with darker tones at the bottom and her tessitura is quite light. She has a sweet face and is funny in the role. The cast was good and it was just as fun and delightful as last year's initial run of this Bartlett Sher production. I love the colors and the minimal sets (sorry Lois, I like the doors). The audience was light but delighted. We ran into a couple of friends here and there. I always find it such a bonus that I can be in that house with almost 4,000 seats and inevitably one of us will see a familiar face. But for the third production in a row, even in our fabolous orchestra seats gratis, we were seated next to children. It's nice that people are exposing their children to opera - and the two little girls seemed more rapt than the previous - but they are children and it's natural that they will not sit still or keep their voices low. Maybe the Met should install seat belts for the kids with ants in their pants if it really wants to promote opera for children.