Thursday, April 22, 2010

The Barber of Seville

Tuesday and Wednesday nights were our dress rehearsals for the Knoxville Opera Company's production of The Barber of Seville. I was looking forward to the dress rehearsals because, as I said on Monday, it was already funny at the sitz rehearsals in the gym of the Jewish Community Center. The dress rehearsals did not disappoint. I can't see much from the pit, but what I could see was hysterical.

The cast of this production of Barber is phenomenal. I couldn't find their bios on the KOC website, but it seems to be a very young cast. The dynamic on stage is electric. They play off each other extremely well. While I always expect the singing in opera to be good, my expectations for the acting are usually less. That is not the case for this weekends Barber. The acting is on just as high a level as the singing. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if some of the singers on the stage this weekend turn out to be the stars of tomorrow.

Anyone who suffers from the misconception that opera is stuffy and boring owes it to themselves to come see this production of Barber. It could easily make an opera lover out of a skeptic.

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