This gently remodelled and reverentially paced revival of Laurent Pelly's 2007 production is not a vintage night at the opera. Slightly corked more like.
Pelly's cosy Cath Kidston faux-50s perspective is not a patch on Jonathan Miller's edgier ENO production for wit, warmth and vitality. And what Pelly hasn't sucked out, Bruno Campanella's connoisseurly savouring of every last note drained down to the dregs. Luckily, this is the best cast it's had so far, and the superb individual performances make it a show worth seeing.
Ambrogio Maestri, generous of voice and girth, larger-than-life in every possible respect, was ideally cast as Dulcamara. Campanella's funereal pace tested Maestri's comic timing but couldn't quite destroy it; in compensation the lack of speed permitted word and note perfect patter.
Aleksandra Kurzak was her reliably adorably pert self, whipping through her pearly coloratura with such exquisite clarity you could forgive the hint of strain now becoming apparent on her highest notes.
For Roberto Alagna, the strain is more than a hint these days. His voice is no longer the reliable servant it was. Where he doesn't subtly remodel the line to accommodate his shortened range, he seems content to leave everything above an A to chance - statistically about 50/50 I'd guess. As Nemorino, this was less of a problem than it might be in some other roles, and he only came truly unstuck once all night. I'm not sure his Italianate styling was historically correct, but who cares - it was tasteful and musical and his experience in heavier roles provided heroic colour here and there.
Alagna took risks physically too, flinging hay bales around, rolling on the floor with the ladies of the chorus, even flashing his underpants. Well, it would be a shame if no-one could appreciate the evident effort he puts into those freshly-chiselled abs.
Rounding off the cast were Fabio Capitanucci, who sang elegantly in the thankless role of Belcore, and Susana Gaspar, who, despite being announced as ill before the performance, made a perfect Giannetta.
And not to forget the real star of the show, Alfie the Jack Russell terrier, whose two entirely inappropriate appearances lend a surreal edge that I wish Pelly had explored further.
If you're thinking of booking, don't forget there may still be some discounted stalls seats available.
production photos (above) - Catherine Ashmore/Royal Opera House
curtain call photos (below) - intermezzo.typepad.com
And, courtesy of Kyoko, here's the curtain call:
And it was Kasper who made the onstage announcement re Susana Gaspar - very hands-on again.
I loved Maestri's through the teeth whistle in his duet with Adina and the continuo's anachronistic reference to Tristan und Isolde also. A happy evening and a lovely cast.
Posted by: Desdemona | 14 November 2012 at 09:01 AM
I really enjoyed this. Yes, the continuo's Tristan reference drew a laugh. Alagna's charisma definitely carried him through and there were certainly a few bits of Una Furtiva Lagrima that he remodelled. It was well rehearsed and Aleksandra Kurzac was as lovely as ever :)
Posted by: Michael | 14 November 2012 at 10:46 AM
Yes, the 'remodelling' of una furtiva made me gasp...wasn't sure if he just went wrong or was simplyapplying his own decorations...anyway, it made a change and he pulled it off, I think.
Posted by: Desdemona | 14 November 2012 at 11:04 AM
I wasn't there last night so didn't hear what he did, but Alagna has always been one for "remodelling" Una furtiva lagrima. The Opera de Lyon recording with Gheorghiu from the 90s has very unusual ornamentation in the aria that was much-discussed at the time. Not sure whether he's doing the same nowadays, or something different again.
Posted by: Ruth | 14 November 2012 at 12:46 PM
It seems that the "remodelling" was done by Donizetti himself. This is a variation of the ur version which is rarely performed, but which Alagna is obviously fond of. He talked about it in his Radio Three interview and it is explained in the CD notes of his much earlier recording.
Posted by: manou | 14 November 2012 at 06:56 PM
The ENO production of L'eliser wasn't an ENO production at all. It was a Swedish National Opera production that moved to New York City Opera and was then eventually seen at ENO.
The reputation of ENO in-house productions over the last half a decade or so has been generally terrible. Miller's Elixir of Love is simply too good to be part of this parcel of rubbish.
Posted by: susan whitman | 15 November 2012 at 11:28 AM
Just back from ROH. Terrific performance and very enthusiastic audience. 'Una furtiva lagrima' sounded fine to me.
Posted by: Albertine | 16 November 2012 at 11:29 PM
I was at the Friday performance too. I've never heard the like in Una furtiva lagrima in my life, the opening two lines of the second verse - "Un solo istante i palpiti" - completely rewritten. I actually thought he'd had a memory lapse (they run in the family!), not least because he'd already had a whopper in the Act II duet with Adina, where he stopped singing not once but twice, having sung the wrong lines in the wrong place. Mortifying, I thought. My toes are still curled.
It's true that second-verse decoration was a given in prima ottocento Italian opera: but only in fast-moving cabalettas, not in slow, strophic romanzas. Wierdsville. Still, he chucked himself around in roughly direct proportion to the singing (i.e. the better the singing, the more well behaved he was) and certainly gave us a character, warts and all.
Didn't much like Kurzak, who's developing a very raw, edgy and thin sound above the stave, though "Prendi, sei libero" was nicely done, with a decent messa di voce opening. It's just that having heard Netrebko in the Met HD relay last month, it was (screechy) chalk rather than (full-fat) cheese.
Capitanucci was ill but sang anyway, necessitating a delicious curtain announcement from Stephanie Huter who's developing a nice line in scatty drolery that completely disarmed the audience and got a round of applause in itself. In the event, the baritone couldn't sing the coloratura - quite possibly never can - and rather managed to miss the sexy fatuousness of the character. I'd take the thinness of tone and slower, heavier throb of vibrato in the higher registers as sign of his illness except for the fact that this is exactly how he sounded as Marcello last year, a good 15/20 years older than he actually is. Kwiecien he is not.
Star turn: Maestri, of course, in much grander voice than he was for Falstaff. And much funnier too.
Worst turn: Camapanella, clearly conducting on Valium (though, oddly, the actual act-end ensembles were rushed off their feet, as if to make up for the extra running time occasioned by so much somnolence elsewhere in the arias and duets). And just before the start of Act II he turned to the audience and said something which nobody I know who was there understood. Maybe he was apologising?
Posted by: sjt | 17 November 2012 at 03:45 AM
He said 'You've got a wonderful orchestra', apparently.
The whole thing seemed pretty wonderful to me, and I really couldn't see the problem with his speeds. I barely noticed the conductor, because the conducting kept the action flowing and didn't draw attention to itself.
The ingrates who booed Alagna after UFL need to flock off, however, and not come back until they've grown up.
Posted by: cunningfox | 17 November 2012 at 01:29 PM
I rather agree with you. I enjoyed the production greatly but found the conducting slack, badly paced and terribly messy in parts - a real letdown. Alagna is obviously rougher-voiced these days and can't sing quietly above the passagio but he won me over with his charming characterisation and the voice still has a truly special quality. Capitanucci was decent if not memorable but Maestri was superb. My biggest reservations are about Kurzak - a charming actress, lovely musician and possessor of a beautiful, light, high coloratura voice. I'm not sure why she's singing Adina and not Zerbinetta, though. She has a tendency to over-weight the lower half of her voice (admittedly producing some warm sounds in the process) but this leads to some awkward, strained transitions to the top; and when she does deliver rapid-fire figurations, the top notes sound too thin and unclimactic for this repertoire. You could barely hear her top Cs in the ensembles.
Posted by: John | 17 November 2012 at 03:00 PM
Seems everyone was there last night including me ! Should have been in here earlier as everything has pretty much been said.
Overall I thought it very enjoyable evening which was much better than the sum of its parts - kept thinking I shouldn't be enjoying this but I am. Probably the best outing the production has had so far.
Years ago someone said of Alagna - he is always best in the French repertoire - which I think is as true today !
Stefan Pop is doing the last night - as I think Alagna is in NY doing Aida. Might be worth another look
Posted by: amac | 17 November 2012 at 09:17 PM
Whereabouts were the booers? I didn't hear any from my seat at the very side of the stalls circle (nor did I see Alagna for nearly the entire aria, I wish directors wouldn't place a singer right at one side of a stage for a whole aria) unless I mistook the boos for cheering.
At least if Alagna had to forget his words doing it when the charcter was totally drunk was probably the best time! And I think it's between him & Keenlyside for most active perfomance I've seen on an operatic stage by a 50ish year old singer!
Posted by: Catriona | 17 November 2012 at 09:51 PM
On the latter point, agreed. There was certainly no booing on opening night. I thought it brave but rather imaginative to offer the variation - even though, as I said above, my first reaction was surprise.
Posted by: Desdemona | 17 November 2012 at 10:16 PM
ps - the version of UFL is a version found in the archives at the Paris Opera (sic) in the composer's own hand.
Posted by: amac | 18 November 2012 at 02:24 PM
Well that's reassuring. It's also rather interesting that such extreme rewriting comes form the author rather than the performer.
Strangely, I was at the Paris Opera premiere of L'elisir - calm down, it was in 1987 - when Pavarotti was given a new staging at the Garnier to celebrate the silver anniversary of his Parisian debut. Much was made in the programme of the fact that L'elisir had never been performed before by L'opéra. Up until that time, it had only been given by the Comique, or in other, smaller lyric theatres. It was a state gala - the whole of Paris was en fete for it, all the buses carrying Pavarotti posters - but the funniest thing was how Mitterand and the tenor were completely upstaged by Renata Tebaldi up in a box, holding court and waving to the audience like royalty.
But I digress. I wonder how the maunscript could have found its way into the Garnier-based archive given it was never performed there? The work wasn't given in Paris until January 1839, a few months after the Opéra Comique's home, the Salle Favart, had burned to the ground, so presumably at their temporary house, the Salle Ventadour (the absolute Cinderella of C19th opera houses, still there on Rue Méhul though gutted for offices of the Banque de France, and the home, trading as the Theatre Italien, to the premiere of 15 Verdi operas and Don Pasquale, among many others).
Perhaps the Comique's archives were salvaged from the 1838 fire and deposited at the Salle le Peletier if Donizetti's variations date from earlier(the Peletier being the real Paris Opera of the time): and then salvaged again when the Peletier itself burned down in 1873 and transfered to the Garnier when the latter opened in 1875. Or perhaps the Ventadour itself housed them until its decomissioning in 1878? Hmmmmmmm..
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Intermezzo replies - maybe the intrepid Roberto ventured beyond municipal borders in his researches?
Posted by: sjt | 19 November 2012 at 12:57 AM
More beavering has revealed that the post-fire Opéra Comique only occupied the Salle Ventadour for a few months early in 1838. Thereafter, until the second Salle Favart was opened in 1840, they played in the Odéon on the other side of the river, not only still there physically as a structure, but still a functioning theatre, yay. So if L'elisir premiered in Paris at the Odéon, any manuscript material would simply have gone back to the Place Boieldieu with the opening of the new house. And when THAT burned down in 1887 - 84 dead - it must have passed to the Garnier.
I think...
Posted by: sjt | 19 November 2012 at 04:42 AM
Alagna was actually very funny, he oozes charm and confidence (fabulous drunk scene). Kurzak enormously disappointing - she was strained and out of tune on high sustained notes and, as an actresss, I found her self-conscious and unconvincing. Ambrogio Maestri's Dulcamara was wonderfully done; he carries the show with Alagna.
Posted by: Victoria | 06 December 2012 at 10:17 PM