L’Elisir d’Amore, Donizetti
Review by Ann Cleves – 21st July 2009
SOMERSET Opera’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, with director Alex Sutton and musical director Christopher Ball, sparkled and fizzed with a wonderful confection of languishing lovers, teasing peasants, a personable showman of a doctor and a dashing sergeant.
The excellent orchestra, situated at the rear of the simply set stage, accompanied the singers admirably which ensured, as Heinrich Heine once commented, that Donizetti’s ‘magical tunes’ brought ‘joy to the world.’
The composer’s music also demanded capable singers in a period when opera was, above all, an exhibition of vocal tone and technique. In this performance Somerset Opera’s soloists matched up splendidly.
The part of Adina, a rich girl, was sung by the accomplished soprano Hilary Gooch with a bright, clear tone and a charming stage presence; a sense of fun and humour was delightfully brought out by the singing and acting of Donna-Marie Hughes as her maid Gianetta; the sergeant, who makes Adina an impulsive proposal of marriage, was played convincingly by baritone Guy Robinson; bass, Edward Harper, with his permanently smiling Chinese assistant, held the stage as Doctor Dulcamara, whose ‘elixir of love’ (actually a red wine devoid of magical powers) fooled Nemorino – Adina’s servant desperately in love with her but too poor to be considered as a suitor.
Tenor, Anando Mukerjee, clearly relished this part; whether he was singing tender love songs or arias of the misery of rejection, the ‘heroic tenor’ quality of his voice and his exuberant acting were a high point of the opera.
The chorus was full of vitality and a very important feature of this successful production; the balance of voices was good and their choreography well managed. One of the high spots was the sweet singing of the women’s chorus in Act 2, as they cleared the stage, and the fun they had later flirtatiously dragging the newly rich Nemorino away with them. The ‘Dad’s Army’ of soldiers accompanying their sergeant also added to the humour of the piece. Somerset Opera and Donizetti were certainly a winning combination and provided an excellent evening’s entertainment.
