Portland Opera is re-imagining Rossini’s famous comedy “The Barber of Seville” as a bi-lingual play for the company’s Opera To Go program, which performs dozens of shows around Oregon and Southwest Washington, mostly for schoolkids.

In director Kristine McIntyre's adaptation, there are still two young lovers, Almaviva and Rosina. There’s Bartolo, Rosina’s cranky old guardian, and one of the most famous characters in opera: wiseguy manservant-turned-barber Figaro.

But McIntyre condensed a lot of action, wrote out some characters, and transplanted the story from Spain to colonial Alta California. And that, she said, paved the way for the show’s biggest departure — a twist on the language of the libretto.

"One of the great themes of 'Barber' is Almaviva and Rosina are constantly trying to communicate using various notes, but something always gets in the way," said McIntyre. "I thought, what if we took it one step further: what if she only speaks Spanish at the beginning of the show, and he only speaks English? And what if even if they get a note passed, they can't read it? And what if, throughout the course of the show, they teach each other their language?"