Last night we watched a film of Rossini's great comic opera The Barber of Seville, one of several made by opera director/designer Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. I believe it's based on his La Scala production, but it's been expanded in a studio with street action, a real storm, etc. It isn't as good as Ponnelle's film of The Marriage of Figaro because he isn't a particularly good film director, the lip-synching shows at times, and he does some very strange things at times like focus on the non-singing role of the comic servant and his reactions, but he has five fantastic singing actors who keep the plot bubbling and sing beautifully. Hermann Prey is very funny and charming as the schemer Figaro, Luigi Alva is a handsome Count Almaviva who's very funny in his disguises as drunk soldier and music teacher, and Teresa Berganza is a treat as a sly, cunning Rosina, the object of his affections. Her elderly, vain guardian and would-be husband is sung by Enzo Dara, whose ridiculous portrait on the wall is the butt of many jokes, and her oily "I will betray anyone for the right price" music teacher is sing by Paolo Montarsolo, who makes a feast of his "La Columnia" aria. I liked it very much, but I wish it were better.
