Lindy Hume’s The Barber of Seville has opened in Seattle to rave reviews. The co-production between Opera Queensland, Seattle Opera and New Zealand Opera premiered in Brisbane last year and has now attracted praise from the critics in Seattle where it opened on the weekend with baritone John Moore in the title role.

“For sheer activity level, on a scale of one to ten, Seattle Opera’s production of The Barber of Seville probably scores a 12,” wrote Melinda Bargreen in The Seattle Times. “It’s as if stage director Lindy Hume and her production crew decided on ‘perpetual motion’ as the concept for this opera, whose plot is already crammed with schemes, disguises, multiple identities, pratfalls, and ruses of all kinds.”

^{Seattle Opera’s The Barber of Seville. Photo © Jacob Lucas}

CityArts’ Philippa Kiraly was just as effusive, calling the production “a hoot” and “sheer delight.”

“Musically it’s up there with the company’s best, with both singers and orchestra shining under maestro Giacomo Sagripanti; add to that the acting, the staging, the sets, costumes and lighting – they are marvellous,” she wrote. “Australian stage director...