PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Gaetano Donizetti — L’ELISIR D’AMORE (C. Taylor Price, P. Suliandziga, J. Costa, L. Radosavljevic, S. Kim, Y. Kissin, O. Poveda-Zavala, K. Scott, M. Trovato; Opera in Williamsburg, 10 September 2021)

GAETANO DONIZETTI (1797 – 1848): L’elisir d’amore — Christine Taylor Price / Laura Martínez León (Adina), Pavel Suliandziga / Jordan Costa (Nemorino), Leo Radosavljevic / Suchan Kim (Belcore), Yuri Kissin / Oliver Poveda-Zavala (Dottore Dulcamara), Kirsten Scott / Michelle Trovato (Giannetta); Opera in Williamsburg Ensemble and Orchestra; Jorge Parodi, conductor [Naama Zahavi-Ely, producer and projections designer; Benjamin Spierman, stage director; Eric Lamp, costume designer; Joshua Rose, lighting designer; Opera in Williamsburg, Kimball Theatre, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA; Friday, 10 September 2021]

When whichever forces of destiny govern theatrical realms smile on the many elements that contribute to success on the lyric stage, whether in fleeting moments of inspiration or throughout the course of a performance, opera can be mesmerizing. There is magic in the making of opera, but it is not conjured solely by musical sorcery. Though the toil is often disguised in the finest performance by the appearance of spontaneity, countless hours of grueling work are required to provide audiences with enriching, thought-provoking experiences.

Meaningful operatic experiences like those provided by Opera in Williamsburg’s staging of Gaetano Donizetti’s bel canto comedy L’elisir d'amore were uncommon even before a global pandemic forced the Performing Arts community into a desperate struggle for survival and relevance, necessitating innovative adaptations of artistic genres to new technologies and physical spaces. [Opera in Willuamsburg’s virtual production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurdice and outdoor staging of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci were models of their kind, confirming that a company’s endurance depends as much upon the creativity of its stewards as upon financial support.] Returning to the intimate setting of the Kimball Thestre on historic Duke of Gloucester Street, Opera in Williamsburg mounted a production of L’elisir d’amore that indelibly demonstrated why opera has emerged changed but undeterred from five centuries of natural and human atrocities, economic depressions, and political unrest. It is not necessary for opera to incite controversy or spark revolutions: when produced and performed with the dedication and determination evident in this L’elisir d’amore, it can alter the world, one smile and tear at a time.

Il giovane amante: tenor Pavel Suliandziga as Nemorino in the Emerald Cast of Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2021 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore
[Photograph © by Diego Valdez; used with permission]

The deceptive simplicity of their plots makes staging bucolic opere buffe like L’elisir d’amore challenging in the best of times. Produced by the company’s founder and Artistic Director Naama Zahavi-Ely, Opera in Williamsburg’s L’elisir demonstrated rare cognizance of the necessity of sincerity in comic opera. The dramatic situations in L’elisir d’amore, deftly adapted by Felice Romani from a libretto written for Daniel-François-Esprit Auber by the celebrated Eugène Scribe, are unquestionably amusing, but the success of a performance of the opera relies upon an audience’s ability to empathize with the characters, not merely to laugh at their foibles. Zahavi-Ely’s projection designs and Benjamin Spierman’s direction yielded scenic and dramatic environments in which the singers were able to create wily, winsome characterizations. The avoidance of excessive slapstick and coy mannerisms allowed the comedy to progress organically.

Unmistakably guided by familiarity with both Donizetti’s score and the physical demands of singing, Eric Lamp’s costumes and Joshua Rose’s lighting designs complemented the unaffectedly charming staging, the former unobtrusively aiding the singers in establishing their characters’ individual and social identities and the latter enhancing the observers’ perceptions of the artists’ physical and emotional interactions. The professionalism of all of the production’s crew shone in details large and small, the subtle differences between stage action in the matinée and evening performances reflecting unusual breadth of focus on each artist’s strengths. Scenically, this was not an elaborate L’elisir, but, as the audiences’ reactions indicated, it was a beguilingly effective production.

Inebriato d’amore: tenor Jordan Costa as Nemorino in the Sapphire Cast of Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2021 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore
[Photograph © by Diego Valdez; used with permission]

It is difficult to imagine that the composer’s supervision of the opera’s 1832 première in Milan’s Teatro della Canobbiana could have engendered a more innately bel canto account of L’elisir d’amore than Opera in Williamsburg’s Music Director, Argentine conductor Jorge Parodi, achieved in the Kimball Theatre. Under Parodi’s direction, the Opera in Williamsburg Orchestra brought Donizetti’s score to life with energy and affection. Intonation, balances, and precision of ensemble were virtually flawless throughout both performances. Splendid as the string playing was, the wind players—Shannon Vandzura (flute), David Garcia (oboe and English horn), Shawn Buck (clarinet), Matt Lano (bassoon), Benjamin Lostocco (trumpet), and Cody Halquist (French horn)—earned special praise for their virtuosic handling of seamless transitions, Lano playing the obbligato in Nemorino’s celebrated romanza with great beauty. He was partnered by Alexandra Naumenko, whose mastery of the diverse sounds of an electronic keyboard offered unexpectedly authentic harp accompaniment for ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ and unflagging momentum in the opera’s secco recitatives.

Singers and instrumentalists alike benefited from Parodi’s cueing, and the music was ideally served by his sensible but exciting tempi. A few moments, especially in the evening performance, in which coordination between stage and pit faltered were admirably brief. Parodi’s conducting style is understated, with none of the mannered gesticulation of conductors who want to be a show unto themselves. In this production of L’elisir d’amore, it was his inviolable and discernibly inspiring collaborative musicianship that commanded attention.

Due Giannette al prezzo di una: sopranos Kirsten Scott (center left) and Michelle Trovato (center right), who alternated as Giannetta in Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2021 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore
[Photograph © by Diego Valdez; used with permission]

Assembling one fully-qualified cast for any of Donizetti’s operas is a daunting task, but, responding to challenges of timing and location imposed by COVID-19 and other factors, Opera in Williamsburg succeeded in bringing two superb casts to this staging of L’elisir d’amore. Designating the alternating personnel for the matinée and evening performances as the Emerald and Sapphire casts proved to be wonderfully apt, the vocal standards achieved by the young artists, many of them making rôle débuts in this production, matching the exemplary work of their colleagues in the pit, on the podium, and behind the scenes. Voices heard solely in ensembles, those of sopranos Angela De Venuto and Stephanie Lupo and tenor Diego Valdez, were uniformly attractive and sustained by well-schooled techniques that encompassed the often-elusive skill of functioning as parts of a team. As both actors and singers, their performances intensified the production’s consistent musicality.

Equally delightful without singing a note was teenager Samuel Foraker, whose vivid portrayal of Dulcamara’s assistant disclosed pantomime trumpeting worthy of Dizzy Gillespie and a scene-stealing smile. In every scene in which they appeared, not least the craftily-written quartet and the Rossinian episode in Act Two in which news of Nemorino’s inheritance is relayed to the village ladies, the sopranos who shared the rôle of Adina’s meddlesome confidante Giannetta, Kirsten Scott and Michelle Trovato, sang vibrantly, the former giving the rôle a suggestion of bemused irony, while the latter’s Giannetta was a mischievous Mistress Quickly in the making.

La sposa riluttante ed il suo fidanzato: soprano Christine Taylor Price as Adina (left) and baritone Leo Radosavljevic as Belcore (right) in the Emerald Cast of Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2021 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore
[Photograph © by Diego Valdez; used with permission]

The epaulettes of Belcore, the preening, pompous regimental sergeant who marches unceremoniously into L’elisir’s Arcadian status quo, were donned in the Emerald cast by bass-baritone Leo Radosavljevic and in the Sapphire cast by baritone Suchan Kim. Their respective entrances epitomized overwrought bravado, the antics of the officer and his small band of soldiers, consisting of off-duty Nemorino and costume designer, often redolent of Monty Python skits. Each gentleman delivered Belcore’s Act One cavatina ‘Come Paride vezzoso porse il pomo alla più bella,’ an arduous piece with no opportunity for warmup, with appropriate swagger, Radosavljevic maintaining steely power in the mid-range and Kim ascending above the stave with assurance. Belcore’s bravura lines in the trio with Adina and Nemorino and the subsequent quartet, sometimes lost in these bustling ensembles, were reliably audible and always sung with an air of testosterone-fueled superiority.

Belcore’s ‘Venti scudi’ duet with Nemorino in Act Two is one of the opera’s best-loved numbers, and the accounts of it in this production were raucously exhilarating. From his irritated utterance of ‘La donna è un animale stravagante davvero,’ Radosavljevic depicted Belcore’s annoyance and eventual glee at having lured the naïve Nemorino into military service with cunning that stopped short of true cruelty. Kim also limned the sergeant’s battle with a decidedly non-threatening foe with pointed vocal acting, each note in the rapid-fire triplets fully and accurately sung. Both singers enacted Belcore’s acceptance of his ultimate rejection by Adina with smarmy ennui, keen to dive back into a sea in which many eligible fishes were certain to come nibbling. With voices of differing timbres, textures, and ranges, Radosavljevic and Kim sang Belcore’s music dashingly.

Il dottore ed il suo paziente: bass-baritone Yuri Kissin as Dulcamara (left) and tenor Pavel Suliandziga as Nemorino (right) in the Emerald Cast of Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2021 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore
[Photograph © by Diego Valdez; used with permission]

One of Italian opera’s most appealing purveyors of ineffective cures for maladies physical and psychological, Dottore Dulcamara is indisputably L’elisir’s most modern character, an archetype of the species of relentless pitchmen who populate cable television, peddling every conceivable life-altering gadget and concoction. Donizetti heightened the allure of the figure who bursts from Romani’s libretto by giving Dulcamara music of irresistible magnetism. Opera in Williamsburg’s Dulcamare, bass-baritone Yuri Kissin in the Emerald Cast and bass Oliver Poveda-Zavala in the Sapphire Cast, brought debonair charisma and vocal sophistication to their depictions of the affable schemer. The cavatina with which Dulcamara introduces himself to the eager villagers in Act One, ‘Udite, udite, o rustici,’ was sung with technical aplomb and masterful comedic timing by both artists, Kissin evincing the character’s cunning and Poveda-Zavala accentuating his suavity. The incredulity and amusement with which Dulcamara ascertains in their duet that Nemorino’s desperation impels him to wholly believe in the power of Isotta’s legendary elixir surged across the footlights.

In the matinée performance, Kissin impersonated Senatore Tredenti in the ‘barcaruola a due voci’ hilariously, delivering ‘Io son ricco, e tu sei bella’ with a feigned toothless lisp that rarely impeded his clear diction. More of the words were obscured in Poveda-Zavala’s singing of the barcaruola, but his Dulcamara’s good-natured lechery shown through the farcical façade. Bass-baritone and bass projected Dulcamara’s lines in the quartet robustly, and their singing in the duet with Adina was fantastic, Dulcamara’s recognition of the feebleness of his ‘art’ in competition with Adina’s feminine wiles projected with amazement and a touching flicker of vulnerability. Both Kissin and Poveda-Zavala executed the rôle’s trademark patter commendably, the former’s strength above the stave complemented by the latter’s resonance at the bottom of the range. Launching the opera’s finale with ‘Ei corregge ogni difetto,’ these Dulcamare blissfully crowned themselves kings of the moment, singing with irrepressible self-satisfaction. Donizetti’s expert writing for the part notwithstanding, Dulcamara can be a boorish bore whose appearances are dreaded. In Opera in Williamsburg’s L’elisir d’amore, Kissin and Poveda-Zavala earned the audiences’ mirth, claiming Dulcamara’s rightful place at the core of the comedy.

Il dosaggio corretto: tenor Jordan Costa as Nemorino (left) and bass Oliver Poveda-Zavala as Dulcamara (right) in the Sapphire Cast of Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2021 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore
[Photograph © by Diego Valdez; used with permission]

Few are the tenors who have never sung any of Donizetti’s music for Nemorino, opera’s quintessential hapless lover, though there are more than a few among them who should have left the rôle to better-suited candidates. On the surface, Nemorino does not seem a strenuous part, especially by Donizetti’s standards: even his closest cousin, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, faces greater technical obstacles. Still, Nemorino is a punishing sing, much of his vocal line hovering in the passaggio, in which range tenors must carefully manage their resources. Perhaps the greatest feat of Opera in Williamsburg’s staging of L’elisir d’amore was casting two superlative Nemorini, Pavel Suliandziga and Jordan Costa.

Springing into the opera’s opening scene, Suliandziga and Costa sang the melodious cavatina ‘Quanto è bella, quanto è cara’ with boyish wonder, their very different timbres gleaming. In the matinée, Suliandziga’s soft-grained, silvery voice glistened in the first duet with Adina, in which the brighter patina of Costa’s tones sparkled in the evening show. The bravura writing in the duet with Dulcamara overcame neither singer, their readings of ‘Voglio dire lo stupendo elisir’ palpitating with hope. Costa capped ‘Obbligato, ah! sì obbligato!’ with a rousing top B, revealing an easy upper register that impressed throughout the evening. In the second duet with Adina, ‘Esulti pur la barbara’ drew impassioned vocalism from Nemorini emerald and sapphire. Both tenors excelled in the trio with Adina and Belcore and the frenetic quartet, always making their words heard. Suliandziga voiced the larghetto ‘Adina, credimi’ in the afternoon performance with heartbreaking sincerity, the depth of Nemorino’s despair suffusing the music, and the anguish felt by Costa’s Nemorino was palpable.

Soldato e sergente: tenor Jordan Costa as Nemorino (left) and baritone Suchan Kim as Belcore (right) in the Sapphire Cast of Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2021 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore
[Photograph © by Diego Valdez; used with permission]

In Act Two, Suliandziga and Costa sparred captivatingly in Nemorino’s scene with Belcore, both of them repeating ‘Venti scudi!’ with awed relief. In the afternoon and evening performances, ‘Ai perigli della guerra’ was sung with emotional honesty, contrasting with the comical exchanges reminiscent of Rossini’s scene for Conte Almaviva and Figaro in Act One of Il barbiere di Siviglia. The boundless enthusiasm of Suliandziga’s singing in the duet was matched by the cathartic joy of Costa’s top C, and their performances in the bustling quartet exemplified bewildered elation. The beloved romanza ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ was sung gorgeously in both performances, Suliandziga’s gossamer legato emphasizing the music’s pathos and Costa’s ably-supported mezza voce evoking Nemorino’s burgeoning optimism. The disperato ‘Poichè non sono amato’ rang out wrenchingly in afternoon and evening. There was not so much as a modicum of affectation in the devotion with which these Nemorini embraced their Adina when she at last expressed her love: a moment that is often greeted with laughter was profoundly moving in this production. Amongst notable Nemorini of the past, Suliandziga recalled Luigi Alva, whilst Costa brought Ugo Benelli to mind. Each of Williamsburg’s interpreters brought his own unique gifts to the rôle, creating an endearingly memorable Nemorino.

Quanto è bella: soprano Christine Taylor Price as Adina in Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2021 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore
[Photograph © by Diego Valdez; used with permission]

The soprano scheduled to portray Adina in the evening performance, Laura Martínez León (the lovely Amore in Opera in Williamsburg’s 2020 virtual production of Orfeo ed Euridice), was unwell and unable to sing, leaving the Emerald cast Adina, Christine Taylor Price, to sing the heroine’s music in both of Friday’s performances. By the end of the evening, Price might well have cursed Donizetti and Romani for positioning Adina’s most demanding music in the last fifteen minutes of the opera. That she sounded remarkably secure of voice after singing the rôle twice in nine hours, however, with nary a hint of fatigue audible in her vocalism, was a testament to her training and vocal conditioning.

In both performances, Price depicted Adina as a determined, independent woman whose capriciousness finally causes her to become a victim of her own strategizing. Beginning Act One, she recounted the tale of the fateful elixir of love in a delicately-phrased traversal of the cavatina ‘Della crudele Isotta il bel Tristano ardea,’ radiantly punctuated by firm top Bs. Untroubled by the plethora of top As in the scene with Belcore, she voiced ‘Vedete di quest’uomini vedere po’ la boria!’ with élan. Fervently as she professed her disinterest to her earnest swain, her dulcet singing of the cantabile ‘Chiedi all’aura lusinghiera’ did not convince the listener that this Adina’s heart did not already belong to Nemorino. The soprano lent Adina’s surprise at observing Nemorino’s seeming indifference in their second duet atypical credibility, disclosing wounded pride rather than spitefulness as the catalyst for her quest for vengeance. Price’s poised handling of the most onerous pages of the trio with Nemorino and Belcore and the quartet that precipitates the Act One finale, perhaps even finer in the second performance than in the first, enhanced her portrayal of Adina as a woman whose vivacity is bolstered by virtue.

Exasperated by Nemorino’s absence from the wedding festivities at the start of Act Two, Price uttered Adina’s aside ‘Ci fosse Nemorino! Me lo vorrei goder’ with genuine dismay. She played the reluctant coquette to the life in the barcaruola, authoritatively rebuffing the decrepit senator’s advances. The voice soaring above the ensemble, her top B and C in the quartet divulged Adina’s increasing disenfranchisement. It was apparent from the start of their duet that Dulcamara was destined to lose a contest of wits with this Adina. Price’s voicing of the aria ‘Prendi, per me sei libero’ shimmered with Adina’s love for Nemorino, her top C again used as an expressive device, and the ebullience with which she dispatched the triplets in the brief cabaletta ‘Il mio rigor dimentica’ seemed to come as much from the heart as from the vocal cords. Conquering the unenviable assignment of singing the rôle twice in a single day, Price was a rare Adina who both possessed the requisite prowess in range and fiorature and used it to communicate affectingly honest emotions.

Dulcamara’s elixir of love regrettably proves to be merely cheap wine and exalted assertions, but Opera in Williamsburg’s production of L’elisir d’amore was the remedy that it promised to be. When jollity is dispensed with the enchantment of Donizetti’s music and the unfailing exuberance of Opera in Williamsburg’s performances, the veracity of the familiar adage is affirmed: in love, in life, in sorrow, and in strife, laughter is truly the best medicine.