“Attention: express train 393 departing from Florence and terminating in Seville is departing from platform five.” So begins this version of Gioachino Rossini’s world-famous opera, playing at Florence’s Teatro dell’Opera from Tuesday, March 20 at 8pm to Thursday, March 29 at 8pm. 

Through this lens you’ll be projected directly to the heart of Rossini’s opera, a work that presents the original spaces and storyline with an imaginative twist. Bizzare costumes and vivid colors mark the amusing characters: Don Basilio is entirely green with long, oily hair and a hooked nose, a character whose green envy transforms him into a snake. Figaro's hair, ears and mustache resemble a fox, while don Bartolo is presented as a white bulldog that jealously watches Rosina, a woman dressed in all red like her lover, Lindoro. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino’s staging of the performance omits any kind of set or backdrop, setting your attention on the actors and their humorous jokes, though the opera’s real protagonists remain the voices and music of the show.