Manchester Evening News review 18 March 2016

L’ELISIR D’AMORE  Opera North, The Lowry

DANIEL SLATER’S production of The Elixir Of Love for Opera North must be one of the most perfect shows in their back repertory.

It’s the Rom Com tale of a poor boy (Nemorino) who thinks he’s going to lose his beloved (Adina) to an army captain (Belcore) and turns to the quack doctor (Dulcamara) for a ‘love potion’ in hope of winning her back.

The potion is really just cheap red wine, but its effect is amazing, as Nemorino – apart from finding Dutch courage – also comes into money … and then all the girls love him, just as promised.

Adina, meanwhile, realizes she’s in love with him after all, and all ends happily. Donizetti’s opera has been a favourite since 1832, and this production, first seen here in 2001, is welcome back again.

This time it’s sung in Italian with English surtitles, which (as Opera North boss Richard Mantle points out) enables them to engage artists from foreign parts without expecting them to learn an English text just for the purpose.

That decision is triumphantly vindicated, above all, in the performance of Gabriela Iştoc as Adina. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed it done better.

The Slater production is set in 1950s Italy, with golden sunshine, blue skies, stylish clothes and the cool guys in uniform arriving on Vespas. She fits this like a glove, with a sassy style, flirtatious smile and – most importantly – wonderful soprano voice. She’s got all the resources the role needs, ringing top notes among them, but never uses her technique just for show but always for musical and character reasons.

The leading tenor and baritone singers were (for me) up against some competition, as in 2001 our Dulcamara was Christopher Purves and our Nemorino was Paul Nylon, superb performers both.

Richard Burkhard, as Dulcamara, is a gifted singer and comedian, and though his style was different from Purves’s, made the snake oil salesman … who arrives by hot-air balloon in this version … a thoroughgoing success.

Jung Soo Yun (a former Clonter Opera performer), as Nemorino, has a strong tenor and warmed it up quite quickly in the first act. His acting is straightforward, but effective: hangdog look at the start, comic drunkenness, and innocent delight when he finally gets the girl. There was a temptation to show off on his high notes, but maybe that fitted, too.

Duncan Rock (Belcore) acted the macho man effectively and sang with security throughout, while Fflur Wyn, as Giannetta, made an effective foil to Adina and had her own moments, too.

Tobias Ringborg conducted with pace and distinction – and thanks, again, to the continuo artist for a gently smuggled ‘Tristan’ chord in the bit about the love draught. The old jokes are the best.

****

Robert Beale