L'Elisir d'Amore, 2006
Photo: J. Reeder
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Review: L'Elisir d'Amore
"Opera festival peaks with sharp Donizetti production"
Courier-Post (Robert Baxter)
Monday, 7/10/06
New Jersey Opera Theater has patented its own brand of music theater. Young voices, sharply staged productions and close audience contact with the singers guaranteed packed houses last summer for the company's second season in McCarter Theatre Center's intimate Berlind Theatre.
That recipe worked again Saturday evening when Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore capped the opening weekend of NJOT's third season – billed Summerfest 2006 – in Princeton.
Stage director David Grabarkewitz lifted Donizetti's rustic comedy out of the Italian countryside in the 1800s and plunked it down in the American Midwest in the middle of the 20th century. It worked.
When the curtain rose, Adina was presiding over an office filled with secretaries at their typewriters and businessmen busily working. As the chorus parted, Nemorino was spotted sitting with a book in his hand next to the water cooler.
Grabarkewitz deftly defined the bumpkin in love with the wealthy Adina. Nemorino was wearing horn-rimmed glasses stuck together by white tape and a blue suit several sizes too small.
As the action unfolded, Grabarkewitz kept the sight gags rolling but deftly underlined the comedy and neatly played up the pathos in Donizetti's tune-filled opera.
Dr. Dulcamara made his entrance pushing a cart that opened into a bar. Midway through his entrance aria, the doctor was mixing very dry gin martinis – he waved a bottle of vermouth over the shaker – that he handed out to the chorus.
Taking off on the elixir of love that gives the opera its title, the director played up America's fondness for the cocktail hour. The choristers always seemed to be hoisting a glass. In his quest for the magic elixir that will win Adina's hand, Nemorino got drunk – as he always does – on a bottle of cheap wine.
Adding to the visual appeal to the smart staging was Ron Kadri's simple but suggestive settings and Patricia Hibbert's attractive costumes.
Down in the pit, Brent McMunn was leading a crisply phrased and buoyantly paced musical performance.
Dominating the cast were Michael Fabiano (Nemorino) and Corinne Brier (Adina). Fabiano commanded the stage with his sure sense of comedy. He sang with a winning blend of sensitivity and vocal power.
With her flashing eyes and sparkling smile, Brier made an attractive Adina. Although a trifle edgy, her voice opened up on top and took on an array of delicate colors in her plaintive second-act aria….
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