Boston Lyric Opera Boston Lyric Opera Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) is an American opera company based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1976. In the 2018-2019 season, Boston Lyric Opera will produce "The Barber of Seville", "Schoenberg in Hollywood"; "The Rape of Lucretia"; and the east coast premiere of Poul Ruder's "The Handmaid's Tale". "The Barber of Seville", Gioachino Rossini's celebrated classic, will be performed from October 12th-21st at the Cutler Majestic Theatre and directed by Rosetta Cucchi, with Argentine mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as the feisty Rosina. As a part of BLO's new work commissioning program, the world-premiere of Tod Machover and Simon Robson's
The Barber of Seville (1944 film) is lifted from Woody's first starring appearance in the 1941 cartoon "Woody Woodpecker", in which Woody was voiced by Mel Blanc. Ben Hardaway, also the co-storyman on "Barber of Seville", provides Woody's voice for the first time (replacing Kent Rogers, who was killed in a World War II plane crash three months after this short's release), and Lee Sweetland performs as Woody's singing voice. Hardaway would become Woody's sole speaking voice for the remainder of the decade. Finally, "The Barber of Seville" was the first Woody cartoon directed by veteran animator James "Shamus" Culhane, who had been working on Lantz's