Don Pasquale at Holland Park

Don Pasquale - Opera Holland Park, 9 June 2011

 

The last time I saw this opera was at the Met, where the starry pairing of Anna Netrebko and Mariusz Kwiecień dominated a traditionally-styled production. Faced with a somewhat less glamorous cast at Holland Park, Stephen Barlow cleverly makes a virtue of their homeliness by relocating the story in a faded English seaside resort. Don Pasquale (Donald Maxwell) runs the clapped out Casa del Fish'n'Chips. Norina (Majella Cullagh, unflatteringly costumed) is a buxom lady of a certain age, in the circumstances a delightfully credible pursuer.

Barlow doesn't address the central hole in the plot - why doesn't Norina tell her real suitor, Ernesto, of the plan to dupe Don Pasquale? (Schenk's Met solution was brilliantly played.) And Cullagh has more chemistry with Maxwell than her Ernesto, Colin Lee (who predictably outclassed the rest of the cast vocally).

But there are some lovely touches as the police restrain the despairing Ernesto, and chorus members cameo as elderly tourists, lycra-clad joggers and a gay couple with a baby. Barlow keeps things moving throughout without ever cluttering up the stage. He even addresses the opera's concluding paradox - for Ernesto and Norina to be truly happy, they must inherit Don Pasquale's wealth, and there's only one way that's going to happen. It was easy to forget how musically uninspired and depressingly misanthropic the work is, and just settle down and enjoy the comedy.

Richard Bonynge kept up a sprightly pace in the pit, with the orchestra gamely donning woolly hats and thick jackets as the temperature dropped sharply later on.  A terrific start to the Holland Park season.

 
 

 

  
  
 
  
 

Comments

[Hugh Kerr]

wow vintage opera Donald Maxwell and Richard Bonynge!

[Henry Holland]

"It was easy to forget how musically uninspired...the work is"

And yet dozens upon dozens of fantastic operas sit on the shelf so this tat can get trotted out yet again. *sigh*

[Mike Volpe]

Of course Henry, OHP is one of the few places you will get to hear the "shelved" operas. But I wouldn't really say Don Pasquale is tat to be fair.

[Miriam]

I don't think Don Pasquale is tat either, it is obvious from this and other comments he has made here that Henry just doesn't like bel canto, but lots of us do" I enjoyed the OHP Don Pasquale in spite of some reservations about the production, in particular I did not like having him drop dead at the end.

BTW I thought L'Amico Fritz was great!

[Vecchio John]

Maybe just too many Italian operas this year, Mike? With the new pit how about a Wagner for 2013.

[Mike Volpe]

John
It is fairly common knowledge that we are considering Wagner for 2013.
Issues that determine whether we take that leap include money and the inherent cost of such repertoire, whether we can get the right people in place and the fact we may become in that year a private entity supported still by the council. We consider that an opportunity and positive rather than a negative by the way. We like to think that a reason for our sustained success has been our ability to avoid hubris in our repertory planning and taking things on only when we are ready. The best example of this was L'amore dei tre Re which took ten years to finally make it into production. We had 54 in that orchestra btw! We are about to sit down and plan 2013...a bit later than we would like tbf, so some news may emerge soon. The recent pulse of smaller scale Wagner has given pause for thought although it does seem to be a more acceptable enterprise these days where years ago it would not be countenanced by the opera world.

As for the Italian season; that is where we have made our name I suppose and with the way cycles of planning go, it just seemed appropriate to offer such a season with two OHP specialities. Next year we slide in a Russian piece of course. And interestingly, whilst it is of course Italian, Falstaff, we believe, represents quite an artistic step for the company also.