In the ample open-air seating, visitors can sip gourmet cocktails stirred up by mixologist Marco Faraone and dine on authentic Italian spuntini platters and wood-fired pizzas in Sydney's world-renowned summer weather.
Without the necessary vocal weight and gravity, it is hard to see Mr. Fry as much of a threat to the Faraone of Wayne Tigges, a powerful presence despite a tendency to sing sharp.
Keri Alkema, the only returning singer in the cast (she was an impressive Donna Elvira in the company's "Don Giovanni" in 2009) brings a burnished intensity and clean coloratura to Amaltea, Faraone's wife and an Israelite sympathizer.