Frequently praised as an opera buffa par excellence – although also derided, by some, as a melody-studded but inconsequential farce – L'elisir d’amore was actually published with the subtitle melodramma giocoso in due atti. English director Stephen Lawless seizes on that hint of an emotional mix in his interpretation of Donizetti's 1832 collaboration with librettist Felice Romani. “What's a melodrama? Basically, a serious comedy, a comedy that has the potential for tragedy,” he says in a program note.
In his staging initially created for Santa Fe Opera in 2009, Lawless sees more than a frolicking rom-com between the beautiful, well-off Adina and the peasant Nemorino (“little nobody”), desperately in love but far below her station – with some speed bumps along the way to a predictably happy ending.
For one thing, he updates the setting from an idyllic, 18th-century Basque village to Italy at the end of the Second World War, with the victorious Americans as the army that marches in and mingles with the local population. A key part of the plot hinges around Nemorino’s voluntary enlistment so as to get funds to purchase another bottle of the “elixir” he believes will compel Adina, despite her earlier rejection, to fall in love with him. It feels more of a risk than usual in this new context.
Meanwhile, the class differences of the original are somewhat smoothed over by having Adina as a schoolteacher to the townspeople, while Nemorino works as a grease-covered auto mechanic. The fire-red sports car he’s working on becomes a character in its own right in Ashley Martin-Davis’ set design, at the center of which looms a vast billboard that displays changing adverts. At one point, it announces the wedding between Adina and Belcore, the US Army sergeant in command – the heroine’s ploy to teach Nemorino a lesson.
The lighting design by Thomas C Hase inserted a slightly bittersweet touch of shadow into the mostly vibrantly colorful visuals of the assembled townsfolk, with costumes also by Martin-Davis.
Not unlike the love potion in Wagner’s later Tristan und Isolde, the quack “elixir” in effect merely breaks down the inhibitions blocking a love that already exists. Lawless has Adina indicate her attraction to Nemorino early in the game as she tenderly dresses the hand he has burned working on Belcore’s overheating jeep.
Chilean soprano Yaritza Véliz played up Adina’s fiery independent streak. (It had a counterpart in Sadie J Bryan’s determined demeanor as her friend Giannetta.) But she also underscored the character’s conflicting emotions when Adina tries to save face by stalling the sham wedding with Belcore. Véliz’s voice, though a touch dark and weighty for the part, was vividly expressive and agilely navigated Donizetti’s lines.
Luke Sutcliffe conveyed Belcore’s big-voiced self-regard with alpha-male confidence but was more likable than is often the case. Alfredo Daza sang solidly but underwhelmed as the traveling con man Dulcamara – in part a fault of the staging, which robbed his entrance of its blustery comedy by showing him on the run from the police (disguised as a peasant woman). Lawless also introduced some curious Fellini-esque touches, such as having the peddler play his trumpet fanfare on a scratchy phonograph record.
The standout discovery of the evening was American tenor Jonah Hoskins, part of the company’s apprentice program in 2022 and now a member of the Theater St Gallen ensemble. He brought sweetness and light to Nemorino, with mellifluous but never cloying legato and fine breath control. Hoskins also exuded an appealing stage presence with the Candide-like innocence of his portrayal. Lawless sees Nemorino as the embodiment of “the idea that the meek shall inherit the earth” and the character who “changes the world and everyone around him”.
Not that the production overlooked the opera’s raucously comedic moments. If anything, Lawless overloaded his staging with a plethora of gags that distracted from the singing. Mexican conductor Roberto Kalb helped reorient attention to the delights of Donizetti’s score through his sensitive rapport with the orchestra and singers.
