Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Royal Opera)

On paper the cast of the Royal Opera's "Il Barbiere di Sibiglia" makes me melt a little with joy. Of course that could mean squat on stage. As it happens it did mean something, it meant an evening of some of the finest singing I've ever come across. The production has its moments and some witty shades of Gilbert and Sullivan but at times comes across a little bland; it hardly matters though when the cast are this good.

When Juan Diego-Florez sang at Covent Garden earlier in the season I thought his voice rather small for the space, as Almaviva he proves a force to be reckoned with. He has a delightful insouciance, a beautiful, silky voice; his rapid-fire coloratura brought the house down. The sustained applause after "Cessa di più resistere" demanded an encore that sadly never came. He had a worthy foil in the brilliant Joyce DiDonato. She slipped after her frankly incredible "Una voce poco fa" but soldiered on with a walking stick (and then a crutch after the interval). The line about foot cramp can never before have received such pearls of laughter. Warm and sexy, in a cast of brilliance DiDonato still shone like the gem she is. To back up this lead pair were the almost ridiculously well cast Alessandro Corbelli and Ferruccio Ferlanetto. As a double act they were beyond brilliant. Corbelli's Bartolo wasn't the despicable villain but more a misguided fool and he played the physical comedy for all it was worth. He's also one of the finest exponents of buffo style patter arias and the speed of his mouth was astounding. Furlanetto, who I'm much more used to hearing in weighty Verdi parts, showed himself a versatile singer in the comic role of Basilio. "La calunnia è un venticello" could scarcely be sung better and he managed it balancing on a chair. His confusion at being described ill was pitched perfectly. Weak link I'm afraid was the late replacement Pietro Spagnoli who would have been quite decent in the average cast but sounded exposed amongst this lot. Plenty of charm but a rather light voice that seldom excited. Changhan Lim kicked things off with a well sung Fiorello and further strength came from Jennifer Rhys-Davies touching, witty Berta.

The production has some seriously impressive moments and the almost prison-like environment has its strengths. Doors appear from sliding panels and Rosina's balcony is more like a little cage but the dull colour palette grows just that - a little dull. The Pirates of Penzance style policemen are an absolute hoot as is much of the carefully rehearsed slapstick (mainly from the two senior singers). The end of Act I is an incredible bit of engineering (very expensive I imagine) but it's also a bit messy taking the libretto a tad too literally. All in all, much of the action is meticulously dealt with but ultimately the sets are just a little grey for their own good.

An awesome night I won't soon forget. Between Florez, DiDonato, Corbelli and Furlanetto this was a cast that won't soon be bested. After a spirited account of the overture which went down a storm there were some minor disagreements between stage and pit but overall it was another fine effort from Antonio Pappano and the Royal Opera House orchestra. There are still a few tickets left and if I were you I'd do anything to get my grubby mitts on them. Fifty years down the line I suspect I'll be telling my grandchildren about this one.