I bought tickets to Hey Figaro! thinking it's another usual opera production and to my disappointment, it wasn't.

Firstly, I was sitting at the balcony next to the stage at circle 3. View was, as they say, RESTRICTED.

William Lim's entrance as a 'conductor' gave me a nice surprise - it was rather comical actually.

Next, the curtain rolled up and bodies were lying around on stage props. Ok, I understand it's a prelude...

But when I saw Elvis, Cowboy and a 70s' starlet strolling out on stage and Elvis doing the Saturday Night Fever dance, I was...dumbstruck.

You can probably imagine me cringing throughout the entire performance. Figaro came out dressed like Chao Ah Beng with the bling bling accessories, chao ah beng dancing in the arms of Elvis, the 70s' starlet (Rosina) blurting out an antique cantonese song in an italian opera - ok, I thought the song was funny in that context - SM starring Dr. Bartolo and Rosina, appropriately decked in a tight black leather dress. It was bordering on absurdity.

No doubt Il Barbiere di Siviglia is an opera buffa (comic opera), but the garish costumes, silly dance moves were simply distasteful.

On the other hand, I thought TPO did a great job - the orchestra has a very nice, mostly well-balanced and blended sound. Despite some mispitches from the horns and a little tempo disagreement among the orchestra members, it was a very pleasant experience. Well done.

However much I disliked the modern twist to what's going on onstage, most of the opera singers were fantastic. Especially Liang Ning (Rosina), Saran Suebsantiwongse (Fiorello), Yungbae Yang (Figaro) and Dominique Morlez. Fiorello left a very deep impression on me with his great voice and ability in following the orchestra. Liang Ning's vocals are one of the best I've ever heard so far. Great techniques...though she would be more suitable for the role of Madam Butterfly.

Hope to see another performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia faithful to the traditions sometime in the future.