EDWARD WOLF
Bryan McClary, center, and other cast members in Light Opera of New Jersey’s “L’elisir d’amore.”
Love conquered all in Light Opera of New Jersey’s recent production of Gaetano Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore.” And in case you missed it, the word “amore,” which means “love” in Italian, was projected over the stage between acts.
In Stefanos Koroneos’ novel staging — shot through with glamor, grandeur and beauty, and a touch of burlesque — everyone was hit by Cupid’s arrows, including non-libretto characters, and he still managed to remain faithful to the 19th century buffo traditions of Italian opera.
EDWARD WOLF
Tiernan Chase and Alejandro De Los Santos in “L’elisir d’amore.”
LONJ co-presented it — with Teatro Grattacielo and Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy — Nov. 7 at The South Orange Performing Arts Center and Nov. 8-9 at The Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge, after shows in Greece this spring, and New York in the summer.
At the final performance, the charismatic young cast from the Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy and a small ensemble of mixed voices from the Seton Hall University Chamber Choir kept everything fresh and appealing alongside conductor Jason Tramm and the LONJ Chamber Orchestra.
Tramm took a well-rounded approach to the score, using animated and lively tempos and bold con brio dynamics to match the energy and high spirits onstage. The pocket-sized ensemble of 11 musicians was just enough to convey Donizetti’s catchy harmonies and sweet melodies, plus all the usual accoutrements, including the customary drum rolls for Belcore’s entrances by percussionist Mason Tramm.
The comic melodrama, which revolves around a magical potion believed to induce love, was written by Donizetti in two weeks. As the leading composer of the bel canto style during the first half of the 19th century, he was famous for his speed, skill and spontaneity at a time in Italy when the demand for opera was insatiable.
“L’elisir” (1832) came a couple of years after his landmark “Anna Bolena,” which catapulted him to fame beyond Italy and marked a new phase of his career that showed a more mature and confident style. Though he didn’t consider “L’elisir” to be up to his standards, it was an instant hit and has remained in the popular opera repertory since it premiered.
EDWARD WOLF
Pedro Barrera in “L’elisir d’Amore.”
The witty story by Felice Romani — based on Eugène Scribe’s libretto for Daniel Auber’s opera “Le philtre” (1831) — is set in a small village in rural Italy. The peasant Nemorino is smitten with the wealthy landowner Adina, but she is more interested in Belcore, a boastful sergeant. Desperate to win Adina’s affection, Nemorino buys a love potion from Dr. Dulcamara, a travelling charlatan. He drinks the elixir, which is actually wine, and hilarity ensues.
“L’elisir” is eminently adaptable and has been endlessly remixed by directors. It is a wonder that anyone can still squeeze new meaning out of it, but Koroneos, the general and artistic director of Teatro Grattacielo in New York, found plenty to say. He is a great experimenter and reinterprets the operatic canon in inventive ways.
He is a regular collaborator of LONJ, most recently in 2023 with a high-concept “Don Giovanni” in the style of Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar. For “L’elisir,” he revisited the iconography of Almodóvar and was also inspired by Italian postwar culture, particularly the iconic Italian filmmakers of Cinecittà Studios’ ’50s and ’60s golden age, including Federico Fellini.
“Once again, I’ve started with my love for Pedro Almodóvar,” he said, in an interview after the final performance. “I wanted to create a decadent, imaginary land where acid colors take the spotlight and tell a story as vividly as the actors onstage. To achieve this, I’ve incorporated postwar-inspired imagery with special nods to another love of mine: Fellini.”
Koroneos’ tale was high entertainment, vivacious and theatrical, set in the realm of fashionable, wealthy social circles. The libretto’s traditional chorus of peasants, soldiers and villagers was instead a mixed group of the leisure class who hung around Adina’s cosmopolitan apartment on plush furniture by set designer David Santiago, tranquilized by ennui between banquet scenes.
Women were Felliniesque: complex, contradictory and unconventional, with a mix of authority and strength, and a certain sensuality.
EDWARD WOLF
Taylor Consiglio in “L’elisir d’amore.”
Even characters in supporting roles were generally bolder, slicker and more aggressive, including the soubrette role of Giannetta, Adina’s cheerful best friend with a penchant for gossip. Instead of a simple peasant girl, she was a take-charge diva, sung by Taylor Consiglio in a delicate but potent voice of beautiful color and charm. During the overture, which traditionally narrates Nemorino’s admiration of Adina from afar, Giannetta corralled the ensemble and touched up their makeup.
In the Act II “Saria possibile?” scene, Giannetta tells the village girls she has received word that Nemorino’s uncle has died, leaving him a huge inheritance. In Koroneos’ version, the scene was prefaced with an ad-libbed conversation, in Italian, in which Giannetta spoke with an unidentified caller on a red rotary telephone and said, “No! Davvero? Ma quando?” (“No! Seriously? But when?”), which turned the often-forgettable moment into a coup de théâtre.
Another invention that worked like a charm was Natasha Scheuble as “Teleprompter Girl,” Dulcamara’s capable, protective assistant in a boilersuit and towering stilettos. In “Don Giovanni” last spring, she stole the spotlight as a gun-wielding Bond Girl, petite in stature but grand in charisma and presence. All eyes were on her again during Dulcamara’s “Udite, udite, o rustici!” marathon aria, in which, in the background, she tried to figure out if Giannetta was a friend or foe. After deciding to be friends, she showed Giannetta how to administer the elixir to the townsfolk.
The men of “L’elisir,” by contrast, fall into two camps: simple or flamboyant figures, all of whom are motivated almost entirely by a need to assert themselves for personal gain.
There is Dulcamara, sung by Alejandro De Los Santos. Although he is a scam artist, he is not intended to be a bad man and here he was the life of the party. The opera reaches its apex of humor with his loquacious “Udite” aria, which he sang with a natural fluency in a smooth, cantabile voice. He blended nice sensitivity and bravura into his duets, including the enjoyable “Io son ricco e tu sei bella” barcarolle with Adina, sung by Tiernan Chase.
Belcore is often played as a menacing bully of Nemorino. Koroneos took a more farcical, fanciful approach, imagining him as a military man with a penchant for tennis. “Not because he loves the sport,” he said, “but because it suits his showy, attention-seeking personality. He is someone who craves constant admiration, especially from a desirable catch like Adina.”
EDWARD WOLF
From left, Pedro Barrera, Zachary Tupajic Evinger and Bryan McClary in “L’elisir d’amore.”
Instead of flashing a sword, Belcore twirled his tennis racquet to underline his threats. His arrogance was clear from his first aria, “Come Paride vezzoso,” sung by Bryan McClary in a sweetly hued voice with a luxuriant sheen, to his final recitative before the finale, in which he tells Adina she can keep Nemorino because the world is full of women and he’ll have thousands of them. Then he makes good on his boasts by coupling up with Giannetta.
Other roles not in Donizetti’s original libretto included Belcore’s recalcitrant sidekick, played pitch-perfectly by Zachary Tupajic Evinger, with a visor and a pocket full of tennis balls, and supernumerary Krystel Juvet as “Groovy Girl” in a flowing caftan and sandals, who drifted through scenery and meditated in the background.
“She is a shaman who cleanses the stage and its people of negative energy,” Koroneos said. And did she ever. In Act II, after rustling up some elixir, she enchanted Belcore’s edgy sidekick, and their courtship took the form of couples meditation.
Koroneos said the creation of prominent, non-libretto characters, including “Groovy Girl,” was inspired by Fellini and the theater/cinema of absurdity. “My hope is that this will invite viewers to ponder: What is this woman doing onstage? It’s a challenge I’m offering to all viewers, encouraging them to draw their own conclusions. I know I’m courting trouble, but who doesn’t love a good challenge?”
Donizetti only wrote four comedies out of his 65 operas and while he infused them with good humor and wit, “L’elisir” is not all opera buffa. Lighter moments of fun and parody give way to sentimentality and romanticism. In the hands of the two leads, Pedro Barrera as Nemorino and Chase’s Adina, the contrasts were effective.
EDWARD WOLF
Natasha Scheuble and Alejandro De Los Santos in “L’elisir d’amore.”
The turning point comes with Nemorino’s famous romanza “Una furtiva lagrima” in which he pours out his heart with the profound realization that he shares a genuine love for Adina. The tender, wistful aria switches the opera’s mood from farce and hilarity to earnestness and honesty.
Barrera’s Nemorino was more of a shy introvert than a halfwit (the libretto jokes that he doesn’t even know how to sign his own name, and some directors like to run with it). He brought naturalness and likeability to the role, from his forlorn “Quanto è bella, quanto è cara” to his contemplative romanza, sung with a ringing top, a warm middle and a resinous bottom.
His voice was not always firmly placed but there was plenty of verve, which contrasted well against the confident poise of Chase’s Adina, whose melodies unfolded in easy, graceful lines and bubbly coloratura. Solos (“Della crudele Isotta”) and duets (“Chiedi all’aura lusinghiera”) were sung in a steady, clarion voice, nuanced yet vigorous. “Prendi, per me sei libero” was nicely sympathetic and her “Quanto amore! Ed io spietata!” duet with Dulcamara showed off some coloratura sparkle.
Scenography took cues from the Baroque-Romantic motifs of classic Italian cinema with everything steeped in beauty, decadence and romance, including Dulcamara’s cart festooned with flowers. Projections by Chara Spathi mixed pop art, fantasy and neoclassical design through blooming flowers, soaring putti and Dolce & Gabbana-inspired tiaras and jewels, sometimes cued up by performers with a clap of their hands.
Fanciful costumes, which were created by students at the High School of Fashion Industries in New York, mixed classic silhouettes from the ’50s and ’60s, plus modern streetwear, with colorful prints and cheerful stripes.
The spectacle was intoxicating. The love potion worked.
For more on Light Opera of New Jersey, visit lightoperaofnewjersey.org.
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