A Very Different "L'elisir d'amore" at City Opera

[Ralph]

Enrico Caruso made the feckless suitor, Nemorino, one of his siganture roles. Were he to observe from on high today's City Opera performance of "Lelisir d'amore," "The Elixir of Love," he might have been surprised.

With a fine leading cast of strong voices, Gaetana Donizetti's lighthearted romp was brought to the present date with the heroine (of sorts), Alina, the proprietor of a diner with a motorcycle parked out front. Jeans were worn by the slouching (but not vocally) chorus.

Many operas have been projected from their original historical setting to more modern times, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. What made this performance different were the numerous liberties taken with the projected libretto, not the sung one.

Born in 1797, it's unlikely that Donizetti could have forseen Grace Kelly, Sinatra, the Fuller Brush Man and vernacularisms such as "In like Flynn." Snake oil salesman artist Dulcamara sold a bordeaux as a touted love potion in the original - here it was Robitussin.

These supertitle antics amused the packed audience which responded with engaged laughter. But is this going a bit too far?

Soprano Anna Skibinsky was a fine Alcina and tenor John Tessier struck the right presence as the love-besotted Nemorino. As Sergeant Belcore, the arrogant conqueror of women, Paulo Szot was haughty male self-absorbtion personified. Jan Opalach's Dulcamera showed up in a car and sang with an oily swindler's self-confidence.

Fun but...still, bringing in all those word changes. There's nothing inherently funny about the Fuller Brush Man or Robitussin. A bit of a reach to make the audience happy, I suppose.

Conductor George Manahand did his usual fine job.