Magic takes time to sparkle in ENO's Elixir of Love

Rhian Lois (Adina)

Thomas Atkins (Nemorino) and Dan D'Souza (Belcore)

Brandon Cedel (Dulcamara)

Thomas Atkins (Nemorino)

Rhian Lois (Adina)

Thomas Atkins (Nemorino)

By Eleanor Knight, 16 November 2024

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“for all its showstopping indulgence, the aria proved the perfect balancing point of the opera”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 15 November 2024

Donizetti, L'elisir d'amore

English National Opera

Teresa Riveiro Bohm, Conductor

Harry Fehr, Director

Nicky Shaw, Set Designer

Zahra Mansouri, Costume Designer

Mark Jonathan, Lighting Designer

English National Opera Orchestra

English National Opera Chorus

Rhian Lois, Adina

Thomas Atkins, Nemorino

Dan D'Souza, Belcore

Brandon Cedel, Dulcamara

Segomotso Shupinyaneng, Giannetta

ENO’s Mahagonny: biting, bleak, brilliantly executed satire

David Karlin, 16th February

Never has Brecht and Weill’s satire on the inhumanity of man to man been render with such utter darkness; Simon O’Neill heads up a superb cast.

*****

Taken for a ride: an energetic revival of Così fan tutte at ENO

Dominic Lowe, 6th February

English National Opera's revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular production is a blend of spectacle with some first-class singing, with Lucy Crowe emphasising her Mozartian credentials.

****1

Cocteau-esque camp: Alden’s Partenope returns to ENO

Mark Valencia, 20th November

Christopher Alden’s Olivier Award-winning production of Handel’s Partenope returns to the Coliseum, but it's the singing that earns the plaudits.

****1

Dead Man Walking at English National Opera: a superb execution

David Karlin, 1st November

Anneliese Miskimmon's ENO production of Jake Heggie and Terence McNally's tale of crime, repentance, compassion and redemption compels from start to finish.

*****

Comedy falls flat in ENO's season opening Cinderella

Mark Valencia, 27th September

Julia Burbach and her designer, Herbert Murauer, are defeated by the wide canyons of the Coliseum stage in their modern-dress Cinderella.

**111

ENO gives Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots a worthy performance

Nick Boston, 15th February

Musgrave's powerful depiction of a powerful woman at the mercy of male manipulation receives a strong staging from at ENO.

****1

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Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.

Magic takes time to sparkle in English National Opera's Elixir of Love