Glyndebourne - L'elisir d'AMORE pt. 1

Whilst a visit to the Glyndebourne Opera in Lewes still remains high on my bucket list of wishes, the arrival of the Glyndebourne Tour in Norwich last night gave me the opportunity to immerse myself for two and a half  hours in Italian operatic sunshine, whilst the rest of Norwich shivered in the dark and the cold outside.
 
Gaetano Donizetti's 'L'elisir d'AMORE, a small-town comic opera in two acts, is always a flamboyant and joyous affair, turning, as it does, the story of Cinderella on its head and telling instead the rags-to-riches tale of a simple peasant worker, Nemorino, whose unrequited love for the wealthy landowner, Adina, eventually triumphs, despite a comedy of errors involving a fake 'love potion' which is nothing more than cheap red wine.
 
Originally performed in 1832, and set in an 18thcentury village in the Basque country, 'L'elisir d'amore' has since been transposed to 1950's Italy, complete with Vespa scooters, by The Royal Opera, and relocated to the Wild West by the Cincinnati Opera. Annabel Arden's production for Glyndebourne settles for the 19thcentury, and the action takes place within the square of a small Italian village, complete with working pump and bordered by the facade of a large house. Designer Lez Brotherston's clever rotation of the square, with one corner extending beyond the proscenium arch and almost into the orchestra pit, is a clever touch that almost breaks the 'fourth wall', and helping build intimacy with the audience. The generous string of electric filament light bulbs traversing the square, however, might be a little premature for the time and setting?
 
Korean tenor Sehoon Moon sets the tone perfectly as the hopelessly romantic Nemorino, and Matthew Durkan is splendid as handsome Sergeant Belcore, whose marriage proposal to the beautiful Adina (played by the equally beautiful Benedetta Torre, the young Genoan soprano who manages to light up the stage from start to finish in this, her Glyndebourne debut) sets this comedy of errors in motion.
 
The arrival of quack cure-all pedlar Dr Dulcamara (played with roguish mischievousness by baritone Misha Kiria) and his assistant (a hilarious cavalcade of  scene-stealing antics from Maxime Nourissat) persuades Nemorino to part with his very last coin for what he believes to be a bottle of Tristan and Isolde's love potion, but is actually a flask of cheap red wine that serves only to braze and intoxicate. When the urgency of the situation is heightened by the impending nuptials of Belcore and Adina, Nemorino consumes a second bottle, not knowing that his wealthy uncle has just died, leaving him a fortune. The resultant attention received from the women of the village is taken by Nemorino as proof of the potion's power, causing Adina to feel jealousy, and finally recognise her true love for Nemorino.
 
All ends well. Nemorino and Adina are married, Sergeant Belcore and his men return to war, and Dr Dulcarama departs with his dubious reputation intact. All that remains is Dulcarama's medicine trolley, now adorned with a simple sign that declares the message – 'Oggi Sposi!'
 
Congratulations to the whole company for a truly compelling and uplifting evening. The sparkling pace of this production, and the combined energies of  the soloists and chorus, made this a joyous and charming evening to remember well into the winter months ahead.