Posted By: John Steele

By MIKE SILVERMAN, Associated Press WriterSat Nov 11, 7:06 PM ET

NEW YORK - From Letterman to Lincoln Center doesn't seem like such a stretch for the merry performers in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia."
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Friday night's premiere was the latest sign that the company's new boss, Peter Gelb, is infusing sorely needed theatrical pizzazz into the staid Met without sacrificing musical values.

Gelb's first such move was to import filmmaker Anthony Minghella's production of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" from London to open the season. That production is still playing to sold-out houses, and this one will likely be doing the same.

And why not? The new "Barbiere" is fast, funny, well-sung — even sexy.

Rossini's best-known work has been an audience favorite since its premiere 190 years ago and has always been a repertory mainstay at the Met. But the old production by John Cox had grown stale after 25 seasons, and a new version was planned even while former Met general manager Joseph Volpe was still in charge. Gelb was invited to find his own stage director and hired Bartlett Sher, whose recent New York work includes "The Light in the Piazza" and "Awake and Sing."

Sher has been quoted as saying he reads neither music nor Italian, but he brings a fresh eye to opera and understands a fundamental rule of farce — the more ridiculous the situation, the more the characters must take it seriously. The humor in this "Barbiere" springs from the plot and carries through the music, with little of the mugging and slapstick that often pass for wit on an opera stage.

With help from set designer Michael Yeargan (his collaborator as well on "Piazza" and "Awake and Sing"), Sher has moved some of the action to a rectangular walkway — known as a passerelle — built to extend from the stage out in front of the orchestra pit. This allows the characters to make frequent forays into the auditorium, almost like theater-in-the-round. That's a big plus in a house as big as the Met.

Yeargan's designs include a series of doors that rearrange themselves as the scene changes from the street to inside the house of the pompous Dr. Bartolo, who is keeping his ward, Rosina, locked up so he can prevent her from running off with a young admirer and marry her himself. Needless to say, his scheme is foiled. With the help of Figaro, the barber and jack of all trades, Rosina finds happiness with her suitor (who turns out to be Count Almaviva, a nobleman, not a poor student as she thought.)

Besides the doors there are orange trees, to remind us we're in sunny Seville, and a traveling caravan with a real donkey in tow that provides a colorful conveyance for Figaro to enter and sing his famous "Largo al factotum." Catherine Zuber's warm-hued, elaborate costumes and Christopher Akerlind's lighting, with its clever mix of sunlight and shadows, add to the fun.

Underscoring the showbiz savvy that's the hallmark of Gelb's young regime, the Met arranged for the cast of "Barbiere" to appear on the "Late Show" with David Letterman on Wednesday night to sing an excerpt from the opera's first-act finale.

And what a cast!

In the title role, Swedish baritone Peter Mattei exudes charisma and confidence and shows a flair for comic timing. His burnished sound is familiar to Met audiences, but his dexterity in Rossini's rapid twists and turns comes as a delightful surprise.

Juan Diego Florez, the Peruvian tenor who specializes in Rossini, carries off the role of Almaviva with staggering aplomb. As it did for his debut nearly five years ago, the Met has restored Almaviva's big aria near the end of the opera, "Cessa di piu resistere." It's a show-stopping moment in two respects: Florez gets to wow the audience with his phenomenal technique, but the long number brings the action to a halt just at the point of resolution.

In Diana Damrau, the Met has a Rosina with an edge. The German soprano has a sweet sound and a powerhouse upper register, as she showed last season in her debut as Zerbinetta in Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos." She's also no timid ingenue; there's a toughness and feistiness that shines through in her personality, as well as a sexual exuberance. (For purists who prefer to hear the role sung by a lower voice, as Rossini originally wrote it, the much-praised American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will take the part later in the season.)

Joining these three glamorous young soloists, bass-baritone John Del Carlo, looking agreeably foolish in a large white wig, sang and acted a definitive Dr. Bartolo. Bass Samuel Ramey brought luster to the small role of the double-crossing music teacher, Don Basilio, and mezzo Wendy White joined the fun as the snuff-addicted maid, Berta.

Maurizio Benini kept the orchestra percolating nicely.

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