Freeze Frame Opera cuts Barber of Seville with Rapunzel’s long hair for schools tour & city run

Singer, writer and director Penny Shaw has a nickname for her adaptation of Rossini’s Barber of Seville to the fairytale plot of Rapunzel.

She calls it Fairy Floss Opera, after the sugary treat flowing freely at weekend previews of the Freeze Frame Opera production, now on a three-week schools tour and set for a run at Liberty Theatre in late May-early June.

Ben del Borrello makes a barnstorming entrance as Figaro, the eponymous barber, engaging the kids on his way through the audience.

This “factotum” carries scissors, a comb, shears, even a sink plunger, as the opening aria chimes in to the dexterous tones of musical director Tommaso Pollio’s piano.

Shaw’s talent as raconteur and wit shines through such lines as “(Rapunzel) won’t cut it, she’s a Muppet”, ringing out across the mythical “Operaland” between Tempo Tower and Vibrato Village.

As in Rossini, an aristocratically diffident Prince (Keaton Staz) relies on the worldly Figaro to fix him a bride, but here both must confront the Witch in her tower — Aunty Bertha (Dr Bartolo in the original), played with pantomime panache and presence by Charis Postmus — a scheming foil to Ruth Burke’s Rapunzel, whose pre-Raphaelite charms complement a rich soprano voice.

Amid the Prince’s romantic reverie, Figaro starts his own scheme in the duet It’s a High Tower (All’idea di quel metallo), with a touch of tongue-in-cheek humour: “Come to my salon, we’ll Figaro it out”.

Rapunzel’s aria, Stuck in this Tower! (Una voce poco fa), pours out longing with delicate grace notes and florid flurries, but now the Witch enlists Figaro to Start a Rumour (La Calunnia) with a contemporary flavour: “First to Facebook , then TikTok” — cue for a song-and-dance duet.

Yet the Witch prefers traditional villainy to the “intonet” (sic) as it has worked well ever since she stole Rapunzel from her parents as a baby.

Rapunzel, too, hatches a plot by writing to the Prince, conspiring with Figaro in the duet So It’s Me (Dunque io son), sparking the Witch’s rebuke, Since you were a Baby (Un dottor della mia sorte); sung gloriously full-voiced with sinister undertones reinforced by a Bond-villain stuffed cat, and miming domestic care with her witch’s broom.

The Prince then arrives disguised as a Frenchman — “I have booked a room on hair BnB” —complete with beret and baguette as alibis; but the Witch isn’t fooled so Figaro intervenes as the police.

At this point Shaw excuses confusion with the ensemble number It’s an Opera (Ehi, di casa).

Back with Rossini — well, almost — the Prince poses as singing teacher Donna Basilia, giving Burke scope to showcase her range and style while the Witch snores through Singing Lesson (Contro un Cor), with a cameo of the couple as bride and groom.

The cat isn’t so easily fooled, snarling back; yet the Prince has the answer — “in my sack there is some Bratwurst, would you feed it to the cat first” — unleashing melodrama to the familiar tones of Rossini’s Overture.

Rapunzel, Prince and Figaro combine in their trio, If we hurry and are silent (Zitti, zitti, piano, piano) — delivered with the comic dynamics of the original, mocking operatic style — before Figaro unlocks the Witch’s magic by cutting Rapunzel’s long hair, and all reconcile in the finale, Happy Ever After (Di si felice innesto).

Finally, a Q&A yields some gems to ponder: Why is there a hair cutter? Is your Aunty really a Witch?

And the corker: Why does a girl need a man to be saved?

www. freezeframeopera.com