To celebrate the 200th birthday of Rossini’s opera buffa, The Barber of Seville, Opera Australia have announced a special tribute. 200 tickets to the company’s current production at the Sydney Opera House will be available for just 200 cents ($2) to opera lovers under the age of 30.

Opera Australia’s bright and brilliant production, headed by Paolo Borgogna, is packed with “laugh-out-loud moments,” says Limelight editor Clive Paget. “This Barber is no cheap shave – it’s tonsorial luxury with pampering and hot towels thrown in.”

The limited number of bargain-priced seats will go on sale from Friday, February 19 at 9 am for performances on 10, 12, 14 and 16 March. The following day, February 20, marks the 200th anniversary of the premiere of The Barber of Seville, which opened at the Teatro Argentina in Rome in 1816. However, it’s an anniversary that Rossini himself may have wanted to forget.

The first performance of the opera was an infamous disaster. The audience jeered and hissed throughout, and to add injury to insult – literally – several of the performers were hurt in onstage accidents during the opening show. Supposedly, the mob mentality of...