The year 2016 marked a series of milestone Figaros for Julian Kim. Just three months after his success at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, he returned to the role at Teatro Comunale di Bologna in a strikingly different production directed by Francesco Micheli. This Barbiere abandoned the hand-drawn surrealism of Rome’s staging for a sleek, retro-futuristic aesthetic — the kind of futurism imagined in the 1970s or '80s, full of geometric simplicity, dramatic lighting, and pop-style digital visuals. Figaro was reimagined in a bleach-white, clean-cut suit with tightly slicked curls, drawing comparisons to David Bowie in both look and energy. During “Largo al factotum,” Julian Kim performed in front of a massive illuminated screen flashing the word “FIGARO” in bold caps, emphasizing the production’s stylized theatricality. His voice, always described as solid, resonant, and pleasantly colored, took on a lighter, more fluid quality here — less ostentatious and perfectly attuned to the clean lines and polished sheen of Micheli’s futuristic world.