[Met Performance] CID:306310

New Production

L'Elisir d'Amore
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, October 24, 1991

Debut : John Fiorito




L'Elisir d'Amore (177)
Gaetano Donizetti | Felice Romani
Adina
Kathleen Battle

Nemorino
Luciano Pavarotti

Belcore
Juan Pons

Dr. Dulcamara
John Fiorito [Debut]

Giannetta
Heidi Grant Murphy


Conductor
Marcello Panni


Director
John Copley

Designer
Beni Montresor

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler





L'Elisir d'Amore received sixteen performances this season.

FUNDING:
Production gift of the Annie Laurie Aitken Charitable Trust
Addition production gift of the William T. Morris Foundation

Review 1:

Tim Page in Newsday
An ?Elisir? for True Canary Fanciers

There is a certain species of opera buff familiarly known as the "canary fancier." The term is sometimes employed as a put-down but not by me; I number some remarkably sophisticated "canary fanciers" among my friends, and I admire the passion they bring to the opera house. But it is, in many cases, a single-minded passion: A true canary fancier cares little about the thrust of the drama or the unanimity of the stage action or the quality of the orchestral playing or the director's theories about what the composer was really trying to say. He cares about the singing? particularly the casting of the central roles. The rest is dross.


On Thursday, the Metropolitan Opera presented a new production of Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore" and it was a grand night for canary fanciers. There were other attributes, of course. The opera is familiar ? some good tunes, some quicksilver ensembles, but much of it impresses me as Sullivan without Gilbert; Rossini in prose. The new staging, by John Copley, is both attractive and appropriate (Hallmark cupids; toy soldiers; a succession of modular backdrops, and fairytale costumes). Marcello Panni conducted and was reasonably effective ? keeping things moving, whipping up climaxes and never allowing the orchestra to get in the way of the singers.


But we came to hear the singing, and singing we heard. It is not an easy task to steal a show from Luciano Pavarotti, but Kathleen Battle managed it adroitly. She was a stunning Adina ? her tone sweet and silvery, her pitch sense immaculately centered, her phrasing impeccably shaped yet so seemingly effortless that one was left with an impression of spontaneity. This was great singing, the kind that makes one want to begat grandchildren simply for the sake of telling them all about it.


As Nemorino, Pavarotti was . . . well, ?? ? an aggregate of gargantuan spirit and refined artistic style, gifted with a lustrous, lyrical tenor voice that has made him the most famous opera singer in the world. He was not in his very best voice on Thursday; high phrases often sounded parched unless he was making a supreme effort (such as in "Una Furtiva Lagrima," which, despite an unwontedly strenuous tempo, featured some ravishing pianissimos).


Juan Pons was an effective Belcore ? all burr, bluff and bluster (although there is more humor in the role than he let on). John Fiorito, in his Met debut, proved a wonderfully high-spirited Dulcamara; although he was a last minute replacement for an ailing Enzo Dare, he was far and away the liveliest actor on the stage. Heidi Grant Murphy made a delightfully blithe, birdy Giannetta.


This "Elisir" will likely find a happy home at the Met. But fanciers choose their canaries carefully, so check the cast before you buy your tickets.



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