The Barber of Seville buffe". After two hundred years, it remains a popular work. Rossini's opera recounts the events of the first of the three plays by French playwright Pierre de Beaumarchais that revolve around the clever and enterprising character named Figaro, the barber of the title. Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro," composed 30 years earlier in 1786, is based on the second part of the Beaumarchais trilogy. The first Beaumarchais play was originally conceived as an opéra comique, but was rejected as such by the Comédie-Italienne. The play as it is now known was premiered in 1775 by the Comédie-Française at the
Ben Barber Ben Barber Ben Barber (born 25 August 1984) is an Australian actor best known for playing Rhys Lawson in the Australian soap opera "Neighbours". Barber grew up in Warrnambool. He took part in amateur dramatics while he attended Brauer College. After graduating, he chose not to pursue acting and joined the army reserve. Upon leaving the army, Barber took a part-time acting course at the Victorian College of the Arts, before he was accepted into the National Institute of Dramatic Arts. Barber's first major television appearance was in Australian soap opera "Home and Away". He was later cast in fellow