Word: nemorino
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...orchestra had extended a similar musical promise with its sparkling performance of the overture. The music-making was superb from the outset: members of the chorus blended well with each other and sang fortissimo without overwhelming Christina Harrop's slight Giannetta. Gregory Turay turned Nemorino's first tenor solo into a great vocal cadenza. Soprano Lisa Saffer's Adina soon demonstrated that her coloratura could amply meet the demands of the bel canto style...
...entrance and resonant "udite" ("listen!"), and his abracadabra, Darkwing Duck gesturings made one laugh out loud. If it hadn't been for the skillful comic acting of these two, the farcical plot would have been in awkward tension with the gorgeous music. Though Donizetti saves his very best for Nemorino's duets with Adina, every major character enjoys at least a few minutes of choice aria...
Though the supertitles were easy to follow, sometimes the translations were weak. "Oh what a pleasant warmth runs through me," the English ran for one of Nemorino's declamations. "Perhaps she feels the same flame." Likewise, to translate two ultra-colorful words, "buffone" and "ragazzo," both as "fool," seemed unimaginative. It was more rewarding to listen to the mellifluous Italian than to fix one's eyes on the words above the stage...
Though the finale of Act I, where a duet becomes a trio and then a quartet, is the opera's grandest moment, there are more musical gems in Act II. This is true partly because the orchestra's role becomes more important: it offers sympathy for the lovelorn Nemorino. Adina's emotional volatility is manifest in ever-higher notes and ever-wider leaps. Turay and Saffer, by far the most talented singers in the production, were brilliant throughout. His rendition of "Una furtiva lagrima" got more applause than any other aria; her passionate confidence in the panacea...
...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...