Review: L'ELISIR D'AMORE, Royal Opera House

What a contrast with La Forza Del Destino (also playing and reviewed here)! But building a season with light and shade is the warp and weft of house programming and 19th century Italian opera does not leave one short of options.

This revival of a much-loved production opens on a ziggurat of haystacks upon which a well-dressed young woman, Adina (a coquettish Nadine Sierra on house debut) is sunning herself, wallowing in the farmworkers' attention. There’s a Neorealism vibe to Chantal Thomas and director, Laurent Pelly’s design, but without the misery amongst the peasants that one might find in a Rossellini movie - indeed, they look well fed and content with life on the land.

Less content with a vita that is proving less than dolce, is Nemorino (Liparit Avetisyan, sporting a classic clown look, too close to the pasta, too far from the razor), pining for Adina, a girl who prefers a new lover every day to the decent, if not exciting and not wealthy, Nemorino.

When the boorish Belcore (Boris Pinkhasovich), a police sergeant who is very pleased with himself, goose-steps into town to woo Adina, she has a decision to make. But our charming klutz has a secret weapon, a love potion (oh yeah…) sold by the dodgy doctor, Dulcamara (Bryn Terfel, never knowingly underselling the ham in his role). Will Adina have second thoughts? Will Nemorino become irresistible to women? Will his unseen, gravely ill, super-rich uncle have a pivotal function in the plot? Well, what do you think?

It’s all great fun and hurtles along at a tremendous pace, the orchestra, under the baton of another house debutant, Sestro Quartini, offered a few, no doubt welcome, pauses in Donizetti’s wonderfully accessible score, when the singers go a cappella. That surprise, seemingly, like so much else in this opera, just injects more joy into the work, the melodramma giocoso billing honoured with drama and laughs.

Sierra delivers the tricky coloratura role with assurance, knowing that she has those very high notes within her range - all done with the necessary pouting that changes to a puzzled look before she sees that a good man (albeit one suddenly basking in wealth unbeknownst to both of them) is the right one for her. Pinkhasovich isn’t quite as obnoxious as he might be (though we can pretty sure he laments the fall of ol' Benito), but he appears to bag a very desirable second prize in Adina’s friend, the gossipy Gianetta (Sarah Dufresne impressing in a super little cameo).

Sporting a magnificently incongruous red suit, Terfel stays just the right side of pantomime with Dulcamara, peddling quackery with a fairground barker’s charm to the peasants, the chorus in fine form with plenty of opportunities taken for a touch of slapstick.

Avetisyan, back in the role he last played in 2017, is the standout, all boyish innocence with Adina, all naive credulity with Dulcamara and, ultimately, all tugging heartstrings with us. His big aria, “Una furtiva lagrima” provides both a welcome change of pace and a showcase for a tenor voice that conveys the simple sincerity that underpins his committed, but not quite neurotically obsessive, pursuit of Adina. 

It’s a lovely night in the theatre, but one wonders if it’s a little too light and fluffy, a little too dependent on types rather than individuals to warrant the highest praise. It’s only Nemorino’s emotional journey that appears fully fleshed out: Adina flips a little too easily, Belcore and Dulcamara are stock characters and Gianetta is there for a vital plot point but little else. 

That said, it’s a surefire crowdpleaser and that’s no bad thing on either side of the fourth wall these days. 

L'elisir d'amore at the Royal Opera House until 10 October      

Photo Credit: Clive Barda