The Barber of Seville, English Touring Opera

The compact stage at the Hawth suited Rossini’s masterpiece comic opera. Rosina (velvet-voiced Kitty Whately) just had to escape from the claustrophobia of her guardian’s house.

Natural comic Nicholas Sharratt (Count Almaviva) showed her the way, with his fine tenor voice and excellent diction making the most of David Parry’s witty English translation. Their sonorous adversaries, Dr Bartolo (Andrew Slater) and his crony Don Basilio (Alan Fairs) voiced their opposition most eloquently, but were foiled by the wiles of Mr-Fix-It Figaro, the Barber himself (Romanian baritone Cozmin Sime). It was all held together by Paul McGrath’s brisk and stylish conducting.

The Hawth, Crawley, 20 April 2012

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