Welcome laughter at ‘Don Pasquale’
Sarasota Opera’s new production of Donizetti’s laugh riot, “Don Pasquale,” is just what the doctor ordered for the final days of our highly charged election campaign.
In what amounts to a prototype of the all-too-familiar television sitcom, the torrent of visual and musical jokes that flowed in the Sarasota Opera House on Friday evening elicited gasp-induced giggles, guffaws and wild applause.
The libretto, in which three young romantics conspire to teach a grumpy old bachelor the error of his ways, in particular his inappropriate desire to marry a young woman, is the vehicle for both comedy and lyrical romance.
When Pasquale (Marco Nistico), impatient as always, tells his adviser, Doctor Malatesta (Gideon Dabi) that he is anxious to marry soon and expects Malatesta to provide a bride, Malatesta tells Pasquale that the candidate he will produce is his own sister. Pasquale is delighted and demands to meet her immediately.
When Pasquale’s nephew Ernesto (Hak Soo Kim) professes his love for the impecunious widow Norina (Angela Mortellaro), Pasquale immediately disinherits him. When Pasquale tells him that he plans to marry Malatesta’s “sister,” Sophronia (also Mortellaro), Ernesto is devastated.
We meet the delightful and vocally splendid Norina as she is reading an aristocratic love story, appreciating the power of a woman’s love. Suddenly, she receives a letter from Ernesto, telling her he must go into exile.
When Malatesta introduces Norina/Sophronia to Pasquale he is smitten and they are quickly “married” by a fake notary (Sean Christensen). Just as the ceremony finishes, Ernesto returns, still ignorant of Malatesta's scheme and is furious. However, Sophronia takes over, demanding that Ernesto be her escort, and spending lavishly, to Pasquale’s hilarious distress.
Cut to the chase: Pasquale is duped into believing that Sophronia and Ernesto plan to meet in the garden that evening and quickly enlists Malatesta to help him catch the guilty lovers. The final scene balances slapstick with a lyrical episode of glorious music, some sung offstage, in moonlight. You guessed it: Everyone lives happily ever after, as Pasquale agrees that an old man looking for marriage is looking for trouble.
The performance is a musical triumph, with glorious singing and fine comic acting throughout, despite occasional problems of balance between orchestra and singers.
‘Don Pasquale’
By Gaetano Donizetti. With the Sarasota Orchestra, conducted by Victor DeRenzi and direction by Stephanie Sundine. At the Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, through Nov. 13. $19-$125. 941-328-1300; www.sarasotaopera.org
