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Figaro! Living in the Moment of a Character. color. 119+ min. Dan Schaefer, IndieBlitz c/o Entertainment One, www.eone.com. 2011. DVD UPC 634479999482. $19.98. OPERA

This fascinating documentary brings its viewers inside a production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1786). Not any opera enterprise, this is a coproduction of the University of Louisville School of Music, KY, and the Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. It is said that opera brings all of the performance arts into one, and ­Figaro well documents that process, from planning and rehearsal to ultimate performance. Though a university/academy production, it is one that pays as much, if not more, attention to the important details needed for great opera. Rehearsal times are greater than even first-class professional companies but not at all less intense. Viewing this program will be a revelation and a learning opportunity for the opera uninitiated, and a delight for aficionados. Comments from the producing teachers and students from both institutions demonstrate their total commitment. Stage director Michael Ramach has a wry sense of the realistic and keeps the production, and thus the film, humming. Though the technical film qualities are basic, most likely owing to cost limitations, the creativity and skill displayed get the job done well. Bravo.

—Gerald A. Notaro, Univ. of South Florida Lib., St. Petersburg