Review: The Barber of Seville at the Theatre Royal
Going from snowy Suffolk to sun-drenched Seville for one night only, singers from the Chedburgh Community Choir enjoyed a real treat when they performed with Swansea City Opera in The Barber of Seville (Rossini) at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, on Saturday.
The performance was sold out in advance, but on the night some people stayed at home because of the bad weather – it had been snowing and freezing all week.
In the event, the orchestra couldn’t make it either and the conductor was stuck in Hull, so music was provided by a pianist who stepped in at short notice, but it worked!
Chedburgh Community Choir is the biggest group of singers that Swansea City Opera work with on their tour round the country. They had been rehearsing the music well in advance and there was a little bit of choreography to underline the comic moments.
The performance went smoothly thanks to the immense professionalism of the company who managed to stay together seamlessly without a conductor. And the choir did pretty well too!
The audience loved it, laughing along with comic moments and enjoying sublime singing from the principals.
Comments included: “Wonderful evening!” and “We had a great evening. Thanks Swansea Opera for coming to Theatre Royal BSE in this terrible weather.”
Chedburgh Community Choir will be singing excerpts from The Barber of Seville at their Spring Concert on Saturday, March 24, at the Erskine Centre, Chedburgh. The programme includes music by Gershwin, Karl Jenkins (Adiemus) and the band Elbow – plus much more.
Performance starts at 7.30pm and tickets are available online from billetto.co.uk
Gayle Wade