In Review: Faircloth remounts a "wickedly funny" Barber of Seville for Lyric Opera of Chic
Lyric Opera review: A wickedly funny ‘Barber of Seville’ begins season
"Lyric Opera of Chicago launched its 65th season on Saturday night with a laugh.Quite a few of them, actually, thanks to a wickedly funny, elegantly sung, cleverly directed production of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” . . . You don’t often hear opera audiences laughing out loud – constantly and with abandon – as they did during this evening. But Rob Ashford’s original direction, revived from the 2013-14 season by Tara Faircloth in her Lyric directorial debut, went for guffaws and got them, in abundance."
-Chicago Tribune
Lyric Opera opens season with a bright and delightful “Barber of Seville”
"Faircloth’s direction made a vast improvement over the premiere and was professional, resourceful and often clever, seemingly allowing the trio of leads to work out much of their own bits of business, which paid off superbly."
-Chicago Classical Review
"The Barber of Seville" Highly Recommended *****
"The audience laughed nonstop for an hour in the second half of The Barber of Seville, as ninety minutes of meticulous set-up broke into madcap comedy. That’s what happens in any successful production of the 1816 masterpiece by Gioachino Rossini, and the season premiere at the Lyric Opera was no exception. A remount directed by Tara Faircloth of the Rob Ashford production that played here five years, ago, Barber has lost none of its vitality, and is an ideal display of the physical comedy and vocal talents of its cast. . . As far as staging, Ashford and Faircloth have a knack for finding just plausible enough business to create a laugh-a-minute farce."
-Around the Town Chicago