Intermezzo

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.

Don Pasquale at the Met

Don Pasquale, Metropolitan Opera, 10 November 2010

 

The Met's Don Pasquale is all about Anna Netrebko. Otto Schenk's Met-by-numbers production is a mere four years old, though you'd be forgiven for guessing fifty-four. The other singers are, with one exception, merely competent - and what sort of conductor would boast of his Donizetti? It's Anna's minxy, knowing Norina that sets the stage on fire.

Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera House

Don Pasquale - Royal Opera House, 12 September 2010

On its first outing in 2004, only an improbably blond Juan Diego Flórez in the role of Ernesto raised this production above the mediocre. This time round, there’s less star wattage to mask its deficiencies.