1 Jun 2018

Review: NZO's The Elixir of Love

From Upbeat, 1:30 pm on 1 June 2018

This elixir brewed by NZ Opera is a sparkling, bubbly corker of a tonic.

It sets Donizetti’s comic opera L'elisir d'amore in an imaginary 1915 generic Antipodean pastoral and plays it for a lot of laughs.

Pene Pati & Amina Edres in The Elixir of Love

Pene Pati & Amina Edres in The Elixir of Love Photo: Simon Watts

This much applauded Opera Australia production by Simon Phillips has a very Aussie setting but I think local audiences won’t mind that if last night’s premier was any indication.

The surtitles alone went down a treat with their quaint colloquialisms.

This is Bobby dazzler of a show with lots of things happening and much to entertain the eye.

Pene Pati in NZ Opera's The Elixir of Love

Pene Pati in NZ Opera's The Elixir of Love Photo: Supplied

But the music is always at the centre and all the musicians and singers involved delivered assured and rich performances.

The principal singers gave their characters life and individuality.

Pati’s gormless Nemorino might have dropped in from a Taika Waititi film but he held the house with a powerful ‘Una furtiva lagrima’.

Amina Edris as Adina was the star on the night for me. Her Adina is clever and complex and Edris brought this out in the role and with wonderful singing.

The big arias like ‘Della crudele Isotta’ soared.

Amina Edris in The Elixir of Love

Amina Edris in The Elixir of Love Photo: Simon Watts

Adina’s friend Gianetta was played by Natasha Wilson who gave us a rounded character and warm singing.

The other two male roles were sung and acted with gusto by Morgan Pearse whose Sergeant Belcore had a touch of the Black Adders about him as well as a fine voice.

The comedy honours probably go to Conal Coad whose visual and musical evocation of the swashbuckling fake Dr Dulcamara filled the stage.

Solo or in the many duets, trios, quartets, and choruses, the principals were individually and collectively a delight in this performance. 

The APO’s playing was supple and precise under Conductor Wyn Davies and were a major part of the comedy at many stages.

Each singer in the chorus was an individual character.

The Freemasons New Zealand Opera Chorus was by turns hilarious, puzzled, tired, rejoicing but always singing with sureness and flexibility. It was a vigorous performance by all the singers and musicians that last night’s audience enjoyed very much. 

The stage design was versatile and used the depths of the stage and lighting to great effect in this rich production.

The costumes are gorgeous and often funny in their own right.

The colours all suggested the outback and the impression was maintained by a running gag that involved moving silhouettes of cars and animals as they approached or left.

There are a lot gags in the production. The sheep shearing scene got a lot of laughs. The surtitles used words such as ‘Drongo’ and ‘Smoko’ at opportune moments.

There’s a lot going on and some of it doesn’t quite work.

I found the Big Reveal at the end was a bit obvious.

We had got the joke from the first appearance of the item involved (trying to avoid spoilers here) and I thought the punchline was a heavy-handed after all the witty mirth and delight we had just enjoyed. But that’s a minor complaint really.

This production is beautifully sung, richly staged, well-acted and very funny.

By crikey it’s a bonzer show!