What the press said about The Elixir of Love (February 2007)
“A delightful evening’s entertainment” (The Stage)
“convincing characterizations” ... “entertainingly played, warmly sung” ... “vivacious performance” (Opera)
“Opera South’s Elixir was just excellent” (Herald)
“A show not to be missed” (Surrey Advertiser)
“a triumph for Opera South” (Petersfield Post)
From
Opera magazine (May 2007)
“Opera South’s Elixir was just excellent”
“an absolute delight in every way”
The Herald, 2nd March 2007
Opera South is renowned for its excellent high-standard productions and its promotion of young, professional singers who can gain valuable performance experience in operatic roles with the company. This year’s production was The Elixir Love by Donizetti, in a new translation by Guy Davenport and Tom Higgins, which has updated the work to the rural England of the 1920s.
This was beautifully achieved with John Braithwaite’s evocative set of country cottages, village green and pub in times long since past — sadly. Ian Mackenzie-Thurley — the director — was meticulous in his attention to detail, all aided by the beautiful costumes designed by Carol Stevenson.
The Elixir of Love is one of Donizetti’s most frequently performed operas and has been a favourite with opera lovers over the years. The work is a charming comedy of pastoral life, yet it contains a degree of sentiment that Donizetti believed to be a necessary element of comedy.
Opera South’s production was an absolute delight in every way — set, costume, orchestral playing and above all, the singing, The score alternates sparkling tunes with emotional melodies. There are no weak numbers in the whole opera.
Unlike most opera buffa, The Elixir of Love gives us two characters that develop. Nemorino, the rather gauche youth, learns to assert himself and Adina, the flirtatious young lady, realises that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
The two voices were well matched. Adina — sung by the young Romanian Eliana Pretorian — has a bright, light voice of great agility yet she is capable of spinning a long, lyrical line. Here was a temperamental young lady who was quietly flirtatious in the early scenes, yet her submission when she realises the true depth of her feeling for Nemorino was most moving.
Nemorino — sung by Alistair Digges — looked incredibly young. He enjoyed himself as a lovelorn yokel with a vulnerable soul. His sense of fun is obvious when he thinks he has found the elixir of love. His voice is clear, light and well-focused with excellent diction, apart from the opening of Una Furtive Lagrima, where I could not hear the words. This was poignant, although he sounded a little strained in the top register, which is understandable, as the aria comes near the end of a very long evening.
The preening, virile Sergeant Belcore was sung by the young Swedish baritone Håkan Vramsmo with great pomposity. The voice is big and a little harsh and words were not always clear, especially in the faster numbers, but he brought out the comedy of the part.
Donizetti’s gift for pungent characterisation is wonderfully displayed in his writing for Dr Dulcamara, an orotund, garrulous gentleman, superbly sung by Dominic Barrand, who was an excellent buffo baritone. His patter song was irresistible.
The flighty Gianetta — Alice Woodbridge — lost no time in finding the arms of the jilted sergeant.
The chorus were superb: alert, precise and fresh-voiced. The ladies’ chorus in Act 2 “Nemorino’s worth a million, don’t breathe a word,” was admirable.
One was totally unaware of the well-conceived, reduced orchestration by Tom Higgins as played by 22 members of the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra. They gave affectionate support to the singers. Rhythms were lithe and articulation and energy were excellent. Congratulations to everyone involved in this production, which gave immense pleasure to the large audience.
Ann Pinhey
“A show not to be missed”
Surrey Advertiser, 2nd March 2007
THOSE wishing to see a first-class professional operatic production needed to go no further than Haslemere Hall, when Donizetti’s effervescent comic opera The Elixir of Love was presented by Opera South.
For a number of years Opera South (formerly Opera Omnibus) has provided a platform for gifted young opera singers to perform on the operatic stage. But this year the production was exceptional. Donizetti’s opera about a painfully shy young man who dare not propose to his sweetheart until a love potion begins to work was effectively transferred to the environs of the Red Lion in Fernhurst (formerly Farnhurst). John Braithwaite’s set design was admirably authentic. The performance was given, fittingly, in a very effective English translation by Guy Davenport.
Alistair Digges was ideally cast as the love-lorn Nemorino, both as shrinking violet carrying the cricket gear and as confident amour after the elixir had taken effect: and there was a pleasingly gentle richness to his vocal timbre.
His rival in love, the big-hearted Sergeant Belcore, was played by Swedish-born Håkan Vramsmo, a wonderful baritone singer and actor. Dominic Barrand as Dr Dulcamara (who sells the love potion) filled the stage and cut a wonderful figure, with a voice to match. Eliana Pretorian gave some wonderfully sensitive and virtuoso singing as the leading soprano role of Adina, and was well partnered by Alice Woodbridge as Giannetta.
These excellent young soloists received tremendous support from a well-drilled chorus of local singers who not only sang up to professional standard but also provided entertaining but never distracting movement on the stage.
The direction in the capable hands of Ian MacKenzie-Thurley was in every way convincing. The costumes designed by Carol Stevenson were appropriate and most attractive. And excellent musical support was provided by members of the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra under the expert musical direction of Tom Higgins. Certainly not a show to be missed.
Shelagh Godwin
The Elixir of Love a triumph for Opera South
Petersfield Post
Donizetti’s brilliant comedy, L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love in Opera South’s English version,) always makes for an evening of pure enchantment. The score is full of humanity, elegance, wit and sentiment, to say nothing of the ebullience we expect from opera buffa of the period. Everything was placed clearly before us at Haslemere Hall last week.
On stage we had four stock characters: a spoilt little rich girl and her bashful suitor, his swaggering recruiting sergeant rival and a travelling quack doctor. All except the sergeant fitted in nicely with the English village idyll, to which the action had been transported by the Australian director, Ian MacKenzie-Thurley. I can’t think that the press gang still existed in the 1920s! Above all, each character was convincingly portrayed by highly personable young artists. Sergeant Belcore, for instance, Håkan Vramsmo, was dashingly handsome, full of self-confidence and prodigious of voice, if a trifle careless over pitch and diction.
The new English version by Guy Davenport and Tom Higgins was, however, for the most part clearly heard, although ironically it was impossible to catch the translation of the most opera’s famous line, “Una furtiva lagrima”, though the aria was beautifully sung by Alistair Digges, who was Nemorino to perfection, a gauky adolescent with a hopeless crush. His open and lyrical tone was ideal for the part, and was well sustained throughout a long evening.
Opposite him was Eliana Pretorian, a Romanian soprano who has already been snapped up by Glyndebourne. She made a touching Adina whose bright voice encompassed all the necessary coloratura sparkle and lyrical warmth the part demands, and she was well supported by the flirtatious Alice Woodbridge as Giannetta. The more experienced Dominic Barrand was a masterly Dulcamara, a vivid characterization in which one barely missed a word of his patter.
The enlarged chorus sounded re-invigorated, and was involved in the drama throughout, whilst the Guildford Philharmonic provided idiomatic accompaniments with such verve that one did not notice the conductor, Tom Higgins’s, adjustments to the score. To him must go the greatest credit for the success of the performance, but one should also mention the set of John Braithwaite — the terrace of the Red Lion at Fernhurst overlooking the village green — and the costumes of Carol Stevenson.
The Elixir of Love may be a sure-fire winner, but this production was a triumph for Opera South.
Tom Muckley
Articles edited to correct spelling and grammar. Opera South Webmaster