Theater at Monmouth to Present THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

Pierre Beaumarchais' The Barber of Seville opens at Theater at Monmouth Friday, July 15th at 7:30 p.m. The play which inspired the famous opera is lush, lively, and a bit naughty, complete with ingenious characters that will tickle your funny bone and dazzle your senses.

Count Almaviva has fallen in love with Rosina, but she's locked in the house by her guardian, who has his own matrimonial plans for her. What's a Count to do? Fortunately, the crafty Figaro is on hand to sort everything out-or perhaps complicate it further! Beaumarchais' comic romp is chock full of hilarious misunderstandings, disguises, and sumptuous period costumes.

"Liberty lies at the heart of the play," says Director Matthew Arbour. "Figaro's impulse to freedom-his cheerful, impudent compulsion to make what he can of and for himself in the face of a structured aristocracy and its arbitrary authority-renders him the magnetic and enduring character he is."

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French Polymath who, at various times in his life, was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, arms dealer, financier, and revolutionary (French and American Wars). He was influential in the court of Louis XV as an inventor and music teacher while overseeing covert aid from the French and Spanish governments to the New World rebels before France's formal entry into the American War of Independence in 1778. He is best known for his theatrical works especially the three Figaro plays.

In 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed an opera, Le Nozze di Figaro, based on the second play in the Beaumarchais trilogy, The Marriage of Figaro, with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Several composers including Paisiello wrote operas based on The Barber of Seville and Rossini's 1816 version was the composer's most successful work and more widely known than the original play. Modern audiences may be still more familiar with the Warner Brothers' break-neck take on the opera-Rabbit of Seville.

Barber of Seville features Tim Kopacz as Count Almaviva; Bill Van Horn as Bartolo; Kelsey Burke as Rosina; Lucas Calzada as Figaro; Chris White as Bazille; Mark S. Cartier as Youthful/Notary; Joe Mariani as Sprightly/Alcade; and Isabella Etro as Servant.

Performance Calendar: PREVIEW 7/14 at 7:30 p.m.; OPENING 7/15 at 7:30 p.m.; additional performance dates 7/23, 8/2, 8/10, 8/13, 8/18 at 7:30 p.m.; 8/3, 8/16, 8/21 at 1:00 p.m.; 7/31 at 7:00 p.m. with post-show talk-back. . Educators receive 20% off tickets for opening night with a photo ID at the Box Office. Ticket prices range from $20-$32. For patrons under 30, twenty $10 Rush Tickets are available at each performance in the season. Tickets will be released to the first 20 people on the list ten minutes before curtain. Discounts available for groups of 10 or more. For calendar and reservations, please contact the TAM Box Office at 207.933.9999 or visit www.theateratmonmouth.org.

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