Last season, the Metropolitan Opera staged a new production of “The Barber of Seville,” Rossini’s great hit. It was directed by Bartlett Sher, of “Light in the Piazza” fame. In the saucy role of Rosina, the Met had two women: Diana Damrau, the German soprano, and Joyce DiDonato, the American mezzo. Both were delicious, in their own, distinct ways.

“The Barber” is back, with a new Rosina: Elina Garanca, the young Latvian mezzo who is a very big deal in Europe. She will now be a big deal here. Ms. Garanca has all the goods: musicality, technique, voice, confidence, smarts, dramatic range — and movie-star looks. She practically defines “can’t miss.” And in her Met debut on Saturday night, she did not miss.

She made a slightly dusky and Slavic Rosina, and why not? She was also a more imperious Rosina than a coquettish one. Again, why not? She was absolutely boffo, and the Met audience was right to cheer and cheer. Her voice can really move, as Rossini’s music demands. She lightens the weight of that voice, and zips right through.

Good as Ms. Garanca was, the show was almost stolen by the Italian bass portraying Dr. Bartolo: Bruno Praticò. He was a treat to see and hear. With apologies to the movie star from Latvia, you could hardly take your eyes off this roly-poly bass. His comic timing was superb, and his diction equally so. Frankly, this was a master class in opera-buffa singing.

Making his Met debut with Ms. Garanca was José Manuel Zapata, a Spanish tenor. He, of course, was Count Almaviva. Before the curtain rose, a Met official came out to say that Mr. Zapata was under the weather. But few excuses needed to be made for him. He is a Rossini specialist, and it showed. He navigated Rossini’s tricky writing with ease. And he did so with a clear, bright, well-focused voice. Also, his natural way with recitative was enviable.

If you can’t have fun in the role of Figaro — the barber of the title — you can’t have fun in any role. And Franco Vassallo, an Italian baritone, had his fun. He was jolly, naughty, and suave. He sang well, too, though with a slightly covered sound — and with some occasional stiffness. On the plus side, he owns a wonderful, ringing high G. And the falsetto he employed in “Largo al factotum” was a hoot.

Peter Rose, the British bass, has been a memorable Baron Ochs on the Met stage. (I’m speaking of Strauss’s opera “Der Rosenkavalier.”) On Saturday night, he proved a successful Don Basilio — smooth and stylish.

Doing service as Berta, the maid, was the young soprano Jennifer Check, who has been in numerous small roles at the Met. When will she graduate? It seems high time. To go with solid technique, she has a big, slicing, amazing soprano voice. When she was singing with five other soloists, plus chorus, she seemed to make an effort to keep her volume down, so as not to drown them all out.

A baritone, John Michael Moore, made his Met debut in the small role of Fiorello. It will be nice to hear him, too, in larger roles. He seems an easy, natural singer, lucky guy. And, as last season, Rob Besserer handled the non-singing — and almost non-speaking — role of Ambrogio. He gets maximum comic results, in part because he eschews all ham.

“The Barber of Seville” has a fairly big cast, and they couldn’t have all been good, right? I mean, there must have been a weak link. But no — they were all good (to varying degrees). This was a happily cast “Barber,” everybody clicking.

Leading the performance in the pit was Frédéric Chaslin, a Frenchman with lots of experience in opera. You have heard crisper music-making; but you have also heard less crisp. And the evening was so enjoyable, the conductor must have had something to do with it. The harpsichordist, Robert Morrison, did a commendable job with his recitative accompaniment. We kept hearing bits of “Una voce poco fa,” Rosina’s aria.

As for Bartlett Sher’s production, it has undergone many changes since last season — minor changes, but noticeable ones. And they all seem improvements. For example, a jarring and unnecessary explosion has been taken out. And here was a nice touch: Big, fat Dr. Bartolo now has a teeny-tiny dog — the kind that Paris Hilton used to tote around.

Rossini predicted — knew in his bones — that “The Barber” would last forever. And he was right. He wrote the opera when he was 24. And incredibly — no matter how many times we’ve seen this opera — it never fails to delight. Of course, boffo performances help, too.