Rossini: La Gazzetta

Lonely hearts advertisements, global travel and social climbing – the themes of Rossini's Neapolitan comedy La Gazzetta (1816) seem startlingly modern, even though this comedy of matchmaking via newspaper adverts is based on an 18th-century farce by Goldoni. Now imagine it updated and given a sharp new spin by Dario Fo, the Nobel Prize-winning genius of post-war Italian theatre, and you'll understand why this 2005 production from Barcelona caused such a stir. The results – with a world-class cast – are as vibrant as you'd expect. "It is difficult to imagine the piece sung or acted better," commented the Financial Times.