Opera Reviews
29 March 2024
Untitled Document

L'elisir d'amore gets fascist overtones


by Steve Cohen
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore
Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia
April 2012

Sydney Mancasola as Adina and Wes Mason as Sergeant BelcoreDonizetti's most popular opera, L'elisir d'amore, is generally thought of as a light comedy. But the composer labeled it a melodramma giocoso - melodrama with comedy. It does, after all, concern encounters with weaponed soldiers, and the hero has to choose between romance and joining the army.

(Donizetti liked to be specific about his operas, labeling various ones opera semiseria, melodramma seria, opera buffa or heroic opera.)

Director Nic Muni posits real danger in this production by setting the opera in 1945, when Sergeant Belcore is a member of Mussolini's army which fought alongside the Nazis in northern Italy. When Nemorino accepts Belcore's money to enlist, he's actually risking his life. He also is compromising his morals by agreeing to serve an evil dictator.

In the original version of the opera, Adina is a rich landowner; here she's the town's librarian. She's multifaceted - a reader, and a romantic, and also a coquette, and she takes several turns before she recognizes that marriage to Nemorino is the best choice for her. Muni hints at her motley life when he shows Adina and Belcore emerge semi-clothed from a back room just before she tells Nemorino that she has bought his enlistment contract back from the sergeant.

The interpretation that I saw on opening night with Sydney Mancasola in the role showed too much of the common side of Adina, with much smoking and flirting. I'd like to see more of her Marian-the-librarian aspect. There's no denying, however, that her character's flaws produce an interesting story.

In the original, Nemorino (played by Luigi Boccia) is simply a peasant. Here, he's employed as a janitor at the library. Clearly he lacks the social standing to approach Adina, yet he yearns for her. He's a big good-natured lug with a nerdy haircut and geek eyewear. Naturally, everyone in the audience roots for his success.

As Adina flirts with Belcore, the desperate Nemorino buys an elixir from the charlatan Doctor Dulcamara (Musa Ngqungwana), hoping that it will cause Adina to fall in love with him. When Nemorino's uncle dies and leaves a fortune to him, all the town's women suddenly are interested in him. Adina become jealous, a tear comes to her eye, cuing Nemorino to sing the famous "Una furtiva lagrima." The couple are married in a joyful finale.

This production adds some action not envisioned by Donizetti: the Allied armies beat the Nazis and Fascists, Belcore is arrested and an American flag replaces the Italian tricolor in the final scene. Real history records that it was Italian partisans who captured Mussolini and hanged him, well before America and its allies took control of the area. But never mind. Muni's diversions are fun and they don't change the essence of the story.

A myriad of subplots are added to this version, so the audience is continually diverted by interaction among the townspeople. It was fun to see choristers, who have starred in other operas, jitterbugging to Donizetti's 19th-century music. Christofer Macatsoris's exuberant conducting and the fine playing of the orchestra added luster to the production. In particular, Donizetti's beautiful writing for woodwinds got its proper attention.

The casting featured relative newcomers from the AVA roster of resident artists. Mancasola displayed a bright voice with easy command of high notes. Boccia combined a graceful lyric style with larger-than-usual volume for the role of Nemorino. Ngqungwana was a vivid presence with solid and subtle singing. Wes Mason sang very well as he embodied the thankless role of the villain Belcore. Casts will alternate at other performances.

Text © Steve Cohen
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