Word: elisir
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...suggests the world of opera he was to lambaste. Bernard seemed for all the world to be reprising Kevin Kline's role in A Fish Called Wanda, only with a better grasp of Italian. His onstage, offstage, and backstage impromptu arias paid tribute to "La Traviata," "Tosca," "Turandot," "L'Elisir d'Amore," "Der Rosenkavalier, "Aida," and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." As Rosalinda's lover, his goodbye kiss at the end of act one, when he was being falsely arrested as Eisenstein, was perfect--a kind of Big Red commercial in triple time...
When the curtain went up on the Boston Lyric Opera's "L'Elisir d'Amore," everyone was amazed. The lighting evoked Bellini's "The Feast of the Gods," or the video to "Losing My Religion." Aggressively rustic patchwork dresses and apple baskets, along with a frail red wooden ladder, made certain that this Donizetti comedy would not suffer from any absurd modern setting. The simple but handsome picture frame around the luscious stage set was a perfect touch. Anything so beautiful as all this, one thought, promises to be entertaining...
...plot of the opera needs no emphasis here because the production didn't emphasize it either: like almost every other opera buffa, "L'Elisir" has a lot to do with jealousy, wine, and a lot of coincidences. The details of Felice Romani's libretto are hardly indistinguishable from those of most of Donizetti's more than 30 other comedies, save for the introduction of a pharmacy on wheels. Here's all you need to know: Uniforms are sexy, but enough money can make anyone seem lovable. Bordeaux is worth whatever you pay for it. People are really, really stupid...
When Nemorino and Adina are finally in each other's arms, having each, in their own ways, avoided the military life, their bubbliness is intolerable--but only if you take it seriously. The prancing and frolicking in "L'Elisir" are no more sincere than Dulcamara's remedies. This production succeeds because it keeps itself in the highest register of silliness. Anyone in pursuit of musical pleasure or simply a few guffaws should check...
This production is the first of a two-part celebration of Donizetti's 200th birthday by the BLO. The second part, coming up in October, will be "Lucia di Lammermoor." "L'Elisir" continues tomorrow at 7:30 P.M., and concludes Sunday with a 3 P.M. matinee. Tickets are $25-$95, with half-price student rush two hours before each show...