[Met Performance] CID:351399



L'Elisir d'Amore
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, January 2, 2006

Debut : Andrew Shore




L'Elisir d'Amore (248)
Gaetano Donizetti | Felice Romani
Adina
Ruth Ann Swenson

Nemorino
Ram?n Vargas

Belcore
Peter Coleman-Wright

Dr. Dulcamara
Andrew Shore [Debut]

Giannetta
Alyson Cambridge


Conductor
Maurizio Barbacini


Director
John Copley

Designer
Beni Montresor

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Stage Director
Sharon Thomas





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

FUNDING:
Revival a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund.

Review 1:

Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times
A Homegrown Coloratura?s Breezy Donizetti Heroine

In recent years, Metropolitan Opera audiences have excitedly greeted the work of several brilliant young coloratura sopranos, including Anna Netrebko and, just this season, the German-born Diana Damrau, who had a splendid Met debut as Zerbinetta in Strauss's "Ariadne out Naxos."


But on Monday night, when the Met's colorful 1991 production of Donnetti's "Elisir d'Amore" returned to the repertory, the American soprano Ruth Ann Swenson's captivating performance as Adina was a reminder that she remains a consequential coloratura. At 46, as youthful and energetic as ever, Ms. Swenson sang exquisitely, with flawlessly executed roulades and runs, effortless high notes and unerring pitch.


The glory of her singing, as always, was her warm, rosy tone. For many coloraturas, cultivating bright sound and technical agility in a high register can lend the voice a strident edge. But Ms. Swenson's is creamy and lovely throughout, from her luminous top notes to her chesty low tones.


Fledgling singers looking for a model of how to support their sound properly should report to the Met to hear her Mint She makes what is essentially a lighter lyric voice fill the far reaches of the opera house.


A persistent criticism of her work over the years is that her diction is slurry, and that her singing lacks temperament, Some operas buffs find her blandly beautiful. These drawbacks have been more noticeable in her portrayals of tragic and complex heroines, like Donlzetti's Lucia, or with her ventures into vocally weightier repertory, like Puccini?s Mimi earlier this season.


She was delightful, though, as Adina, a wealthy landowner in an early-19th-century Italian village, a savvy young woman immune, or so she thinks, to silly romantic notions of love. She brought a breezy grace to the character, who must seem cool-headed even when she realizes, despite herself, that she has fallen for Nemorino- the painfully, shy young peasant who pines for her.


Ms. Swenson payed charmingly against the tenor Ram?n Vargas?s Nemorino. Though he can be a stiff actor in serious roles, Mr. Vargas was disarmingly awkward and excitable as this love-struck villager. He so threw himself into his portrayal that some stretches of his singing were a little rough, But for the most part, he gave a clarion account of the role and delivered the goods in the surefire aria "Una furtive lagrima," which he sang with ardent lyricism and affecting poignancy.


The British baritone Andrew Shore had a successful Met debut as Doctor Dulcamara, the charlatan who peddles an elixir of love, actually a bottle of Bordeaux that nevertheless does the trick and emboldens the stunted Nemorino to take a chance with Adina. Mr. Shore brought the husky voice and comic skills of a fine character actor to his portrayal.


The baritone Peter Coleman-Wright as Sergeant Belcore, Nemorlno's rival, and the soprano Alyson Cambridge as Giannetta, a peasant girl, rounded out the appealing cast: Maurizio Barbacini may not be a technically incisive conductor, but he knows the Bel Canto style and drew a gracious account of the score from the Met orchestra.


Still, the good news of this revival, which can be heard on Saturday's live radio broadcast from the Met, is Ms. Swenson's winning portrayal of Adina.



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