The Barber of Seville

Published Monday 2 July 2007 at 11:35 by Edward Bhesania

There’s no shortage of good singing in this Barber, with three of central quartet of characters making their OHP debuts.

Brad Cooper’s Almaviva initially showed hints of tightness in his ringing Italaniate tenor, but after loosening up in his heartfelt serenade to Rosina, he consistently impressed. He’s fearless in his vocal athleticism and heroic enough in character to mask the role’s difficulties. Frances Bourne, is equally agile, with a uniform silkiness across her range that makes her a joy to hear, but her Rosina is more a daisy than a thorny rose, leaving her unconvincing in the sting-in-the-tail of her Una voce poco fa.

Eric Roberts is a robust, charismatic Bartolo and Matthew Hargreaves and Sarah Redgwick impress as Basilio and Berta. For his part, Figaro -sung by Toby Stafford-Allen, returning to OHP for the third consecutive year - is fully in bloom vocally and dramatically.

But Tim Carroll’s production plays down the characterisation of Rossini’s stock comic characters, leading to one of the least funny Barber’s you’re likely to see. The great ensembles of comic confusion feel deflated and underanticipated. It’s a novel touch that Carroll invents a boy assistant to Figaro who, hidden beneath Almaviva’s cloak, plays guitar for his serenade and organ-accompanies the singing lesson he gives in disguise. But this is not without removing another comic role, that of Ambrogio, the (silent) yawning servant of Bartolo.

Robert Dean conducts the City of London Sinfonia with vim and the new semi-permanent theatre structure is stunning (save for the eye-straining dot-matrix surtitle displays).

This is still an enjoyable night out, but go for the singing, not for the laughs.