The Barber of Seville 1823, and became the first opera ever to be performed in Italian in New York, when Manuel Garcia (who played Almaviva) and his Italian troupe opened their first season there with "Il barbiere" on 29 November 1825 at the Park Theatre. The cast of eight had three other members of his family, including the 17-year-old Maria-Felicia, later known as Maria Malibran. The role of Rosina was originally written for a contralto. According to music critic Richard Osborne, writing in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", "it is important to record the degree to which singers have sometimes distorted Rossini’s intentions.
The Bhoys from Seville a tribute piece to the Lisbon Lions. Actor and playwright Tony Roper wrote a play entitled "Celts in Seville", the story of a typical Celtic supporting-family following Celtic over the course of their run to the UEFA Cup final in Seville. The play enjoyed a successful initial run in 2008, and a similarly successful rerun in 2014. Tony Roper wrote the play to highlight the passionate but good-natured support of Celtic fans during the UEFA Cup campaign, stating "The reason I wrote this was not to celebrate Celtic not winning the UEFA cup, the reason I wrote the play was