Amato Opera director, choosing the repertoire, rehearsing and conducting the operas. In the early productions, he often cast students from his opera classes at The America Theatre Wing, where he was the Director of the Opera Workshop. There was no admission charge for the company's early performances, because union rules prohibited it. Instead, during the intermission the Amatos would "pass the hat around" for contributions. Sally acted as costumier, ran lights and box office and managed publicity and business matters. Under the alias Serafina Bellantoni, she sang in productions for over fifty years. Their first production, Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", was
The Barber of Seville (play) Guilty Mother". Though the play was poorly received at first, Beaumarchais worked some fast editing of the script, turning it into a roaring success after three days. The play's title might be a pun on Tirso de Molina's earlier play "El Burlador de Sevilla" ("The Trickster of Seville"). Mozart wrote a set of 12 variations, K.354, on one of Baudron's songs, "". The story follows a traditional Commedia dell'arte structure, with many characters seemingly based on famous stock characters. The plot involves a Spanish count, called simply The Count although "Almaviva" appears as an additional name (whether it is a