A Nice Trip to the ‘Barber’

If you consider opera a hair-raising experience, the Guild Opera Company’s production of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” can do something about that. For one thing, there won’t be large women with braids and Madonna-like breastplates wailing over dead heroes in some incomprehensible language.

“It isn’t anything to be construed as stuffy, stodgy or boring,” said Heinz Blankenburg, artistic director of the company. “The production is light, it’s airy, it’s fun and it’s understandable,” meaning it will be sung in English instead of the original Italian.

Figaro, the Barber of Seville, will be cutting up for the adult set only once, Friday night at the Glendale Concert Auditorium. To get into the company’s other performances of this delightful comedy you have to be a kid. The Guild Opera Company’s mission is to bring full professional productions of operas to school children in Los Angeles County. According to Gayle Blankenburg, the company’s managing director, “It’s been quietly going on here for a long time.” Since 1949, to be exact.

Blankenburg estimated that more than 14,000 local schoolchildren, mostly in the fourth through eighth grades, will see the 10 performances, including three in Glendale. The company has provided materials for the teachers, including cassette tapes of selections from the opera, character posters, a newspaper with crossword puzzles and word games relating to the opera, and a children’s version so the children can put on their own little shows.

For adults, the story is as follows: Count Almaviva, who is handsome, young and rich, is head-over-heels in love with Rosina, the lovely young ward of Dr. Bartolo, who is also head-over-heels in love with her. Almaviva wants Rosina to love him for himself and not his money. Dr. Bartolo doesn’t want competition. Enter Figaro, the aforementioned barber, to aid and abet Almaviva in a variety of disguises and schemes so the young lovers can get around Dr. Bartolo and, you guessed it, live happily ever after.

Legend has it that Gioachinno Rossini composed the opera in three weeks, just in time for its 1816 premiere in Rome. The libretto, or words, was written by Cesare Sterbini. If that name doesn’t ring any bells, don’t worry. He wasn’t particularly well-known. Rossini, on the other hand, wrote 40 operas, including William Tell, the overture of which is more often associated with the Lone Ranger.

The Glendale Concert Auditorium is on the campus of Glendale High School at 1440 E. Broadway. Seats in the Golden Circle are $25, with general admission $12, and seniors and students $8. The orchestra will start the overture at 8 p.m. And Figaro, a little more off the sides, please.