Laurent Pelly’s 2017 production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Théatre des Champs Élysée  is classic Pelly.  The sets and costumes are very simple and essentially monochrome.  The sets in fact are constructed from flats painted as music paper.  The black, white and grey costumes are more or less modern and pretty nondescript.  But, in the classic Pelly manner, the action is fast paced and convincing.  There’s lots of synchronised movement and the physical acting and facial expressions are a bit exaggerated.  I toyed with the word “cartoonish” but that’s a bit crude if not entirely inaccurate.  The overall effect is positive.

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