James Karas
The Canadian Opera Company serves us a delightful, delectable and
delicious Elixir of Love with a strong Canadian flavor, scrumptious
singing and most of it done by Canadians. More about the last bit further down.
Donizetti’s enchanting comedy requires five singers who must create and
exude a sense of innocence, an atmosphere of
geniality and a pleasant community that exists mostly in our imagination. Where
can you find a place like that? Easy. Visit a small, rural town in southern
Ontario on a sunny day before World War I. That is
where director James Robinson sets this production. It all started in a small
town in the United States but, there being no travel bans yet, they all moved
to the friendlier realm of Canada. Well, Robinson changed the locale to
Ontario.
Simone Osborne as Adina (at left) with Gordon
Bintner as Belcore
and Andrew Haji as Nemorino (at right). Photo: Michael
Cooper
Nemorino (Andrew Haji) has an ice cream truck and consumes what he sells
with considerable generosity. But he is an innocent, lovable bumpkin who is
love-struck with the very pretty Adina. His profession and girth, do not give
him a head start in the race for Adina’s heart. Haji has a dulcet, light tenor
voice and he conveys the innocence, ardour and total lovability of Nemorino
perfectly.
Adina is rich, beautiful and flirtatious, the type of girl that any
red-blooded Ontarian from Dundalk to Dorset would give up his acreage for.
Soprano Simone Osborne embodies all the qualities we want to see in Adina and
gives her an agile, honeyed voice that is an aural delight.
Sergeant Belcore is a swaggering, mustachioed recruiting officer in a
well-pressed uniform that would burst at the seams if his ego were any bigger.
Baritone Gordon Bintner’s voice resonates with confidence and we (almost)
forgive Adina for falling for the cad.
Baritone Andrew Shore takes on the role of the quack Dr. Dulcamara who
sells an elixir guaranteed to get you any woman. It is a fine comic role and
Shore does a very good job in that regard. Unfortunately, he was in poor vocal
form on the date that I saw the production (October 17), especially at the
beginning. He was better near the end.
Soprano Laura Eberwein displayed her beautiful voice in the relatively
small role of Giannetta and no doubt we will be seeing much more of her in the future.
The opera is set, as I said, in a small town in Ontario. The set
(designed by Allen Moyer) focuses on the town’s bandstand, decorated with
banners and flags. The town people are dressed in festive attire of the period,
the sun is shining and life is good. Is it July 1, 1914? We have a cheerful,
happy atmosphere with the townspeople (the marvelous COC Chorus) providing a
social milieu and vocal pleasure.
Yves Abel conducts the COC Orchestra.
One does not usually make too much fuss about the origins of the cast
except perhaps to add, say, Russian or America before a singer’s name. There is
a difference here. Most of the cast is young and Canadian. In fact the
conductor and four of the five singers (Andrew Shore s the exception) are young
Canadians. This is not pointless flag waving. It is a round of applause to the
COC and in general for Canada for nurturing a crop of musical talent especially
in opera, a form of entertainment that is struggling to maintain and increase
its fan base and is usually dominated by non-Canadians.
The Elixir of Love
presents Canada on the operatic stage in every respect and does a damn good
job.
_________________
The Elixir of Love by Gaetano Donizetti (music) and
Felice Romani (libretto), opened on October
11 and will be
performed eight times until November 4, 2017 on various dates at the Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street
West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel: 416-363-6671. www.coc.ca
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