The Passion of Opera

Just as in the Wiener Staatsoper's recent production of  Il barbiere di Siviglia  this production of Donizetti's  L'elisir d'amore  goes back to the basic, classic style of  bel canto  performance, stripping away many of the inventions and conventions developed in the past several decades and returning to the basis of the art form. The production of  Barbiere  was certainly funny, but eschewed hilarity in favor of what felt like a very pure representation of  bel canto  melodrama. Synopsis & general information:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'elisir_d'amore L'elisir d'amore | Gaetano Donizetti Dirigent | Marco Armiliato Nach der Regie von | Otto Schenk Ausstattung | Jürgen Rose Chorleitung | Martin Schebesta Adina | Aleksandra Kurzak Nemorino | Stephen Costello Belcore | Marco Caria Doktor Dulcamara | Adam Plachetka Giannetta | Jeanine De Bique Ein Trompeter | Konras Monsberger Diener de...

I watched this rendition of La fille du regiment with the excellent Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez a few weeks ago and I am now getting around to my review of it. All in all, it was an excellent production. The leads did great jobs with just a few small foibles, and the supporting cast was superb in both acting and voice. The acting overall is quite good. Florez, for his part, has some rote gestures that he does again and again (particularly turning away and turning back before starting a phrase). However, he does a good job of acting the part with a sincerity that has been unusual until recently for tenors in particular. That said, there have been exceptions in the past and there are a wide variety of tenors with acting ability currently on the stages. Florez isn't an exquisite actor above the rest, but he's good enough without a doubt. The supporting singers all play their roles well, especially Felicity Palmer (except not so well when she's singi...