Miracle Drug

Miracle Drug

by David Shengold

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Feb 19, 2008

Gaetano Donizetti's 1832 Elixir of Love remains one of opera's miracles. You can set the simple comedy of a timid village guy (Nemorino) in pursuit of an ostensibly "too good for him" girl (Adina) anywhere and have it work. At Curtis Opera Studio, Ned Canty generally successfully transposed Elixir to a television studio, with the hero (Dominic Armstrong) as a grip and the heroine (Rinnat Moriah) as the soignee station manager. Canty and his team decked the black box with backstage props plus I Love Lucy and Mary Tyler Moore shows on some monitors — and subtitles on others, a great touch. Unclear what decade was targeted: Lucy and Mary Tyler are themselves icons of vastly different eras; hand-held cameras rubbed shoulders with a Polaroid; and costumes spanned the '50s to the '90s.

Canty's direction and program essay did not clarify exactly what role in this backstage world Nemorino's uniformed rival represented; fortunately, Elliot Madore gave Sgt. Belcore sharp profile, gleefully sending up his own hunky charisma. Once past some chopped-up lines in his entrance aria, Madore also sang very well, with particular strength on top. Allen Boxer brought a solid, cleanly produced bass to Dr. Dulcamara but had a harder chore presenting a consistent character, since Canty made this quack — whose itinerancy and outsider status matter to the plot — the network's pitchman.

Though among Curtis' most promising vocalists, neither Moriah nor Armstrong has solved all their technical issues. A fetching Adina with easy acuti, she needed more consistent tonal warmth and focus. Nemorino's tricky attacks in the high transitional range palpably taxed Armstrong, but there's a strong, very useful tenor brewing here, and his ardent sincerity won over the audience. Allison Sanders' clear, fluid soprano gave pleasure as Giannetta (here the wig/makeup girl); she and Armstrong sound ready for their supporting roles in the Opera Company's April production of Bellini's Norma.

Choral parts, reduced to one voice per section, were handsomely sung by Sarah Shafer, Tammy Coil, Jason Coffey and Thomas Shivone. Danielle Orlando held everything together admirably at the keyboard, with cameo drum and trumpet for Belcore and Dulcamara's entrances. The edition cut the overture (understandably enough), transformed the opening chorus into a piano prelude and — for mysterious reasons — omitted Adina and Dulcamara's comic song.

(d_shengold@citypaper.net)

ELIXIR OF LOVE

Feb. 15, Curtis Opera Studio.

Things That Matter To People Who Matter
Kahlo the Wild
Margarita Mixed
Glass Recycled
Forget About It
Love Conquers
Kát'a Kabanová
Baby
Michael Martone