This Paris Opera production of 'The Barber of Seville' from 2002 has some problems, in spite of its superb musical qualities. For starters, it is set in Moorish Spain and all the characters look like they might have wandered in from 'The Abduction from the Seraglio' or 'The Italian Girl in Algiers.' The sets are absolutely stunning in their detail of Moorish architecture. But it is distracting to find that Rosina is in purdah, behind an elaborate system of screens (which fall away, of course, when we are allowed to see and hear her). Bartolo, sung gloriously by Spanish basso Carlos Chausson, looks rather more like Fagin from 'Oliver' than a Spanish doctor. Don Basilio, sung by the tall and stately Icelandic basso Kristinn Sigmundsson, kept reminding me of Sarastro. The costume that Figaro (sung adequately by Czech baritone Dalibor Jenis) wears in the first act almost defies description. He wears a little umbrella hat (for American baseball fans with long memories, it reminds one of Maury Wills) and, anachronistically, a pair of spectacles that look for all the world like Blue Blockers. Joyce DiDonato, as Rosina, is in a Turkish pajama outfit with her face covered by a burqa -- she of course removes it when she sings. Roberto Saccà is in a generic Arab outfit. I'm sorry to spend so much time and space on the setting, but it is as if the set and costume designers deliberately wanted to upstage Rossini and his music, and they succeeded. As for the acting, it would not have been out of place in either a silent movie or a high school play. It is hokey-funny, with large gestures and meaningless stage movement. The chorus is given quasi-choreography for no apparent reason except to keep things moving onstage.