Sometimes misfortune can have its upsides. As any self-respecting devotee will tell you many opera plots revolve around the dramatic consequences of single quirks of fate. However, whereas these events normally are restricted to the goings-on on stage, Jonathan Miller’s new staging of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore has had a fairly dramatic time behind the scenes as well. After opening to generally positive reviews, original lead John Tessier came down with an infection and so was unable to perform, unfortunately so was his understudy, which lead to an interesting dilemma for the company. With it being such short notice and with this being the first staging of a new English adaptation, it wouldn’t be possible to find another singer who knew this version of the text or had the time to learn it. The solution they hit upon was to hire a singer who was familiar with the original Italian – Brazilian Tenor Luciano Botelho – and keep the rest of the production in English. And it works surprisingly well.
A light, farcical romance telling the tale of Nemorino’s pining for beautiful Adina, who refuses to be tied down to one man, that is until her soldier suitor Belcore proposes to her. Nemorino puts his faith in doctor Dulcamara, who provides the Elixir of the title. Veteran director Miller has decided to stage the action in the mid-west of 1950s America, where the action centres around Adina’s diner, Nemorino is now a young grease-monkey and Dulcamara is a travelling snake-oil huckster.
As lovestruck Nemorino Botelho’s character is at odds with the other characters on stage, and so the fact that the intense young loner is singing in a different language to the rest of the cast highlights this further – with this production’s American update it could be possible to read Nemorino as an uneducated immigrant. In some of the group numbers where Botelho is required to sing along with the chorus, the language difference adds another interesting layer of contrast – where Kelley Rourke’s new English translation is witty, it is also rather functional, and so Nemorino’s romanticised Italian (as well as Botelho’s forceful but light and clear voice – perhaps it was a result of end of run fatigue setting in with the rest of the cast, but at this performance his voice was by far the standout) sets his character apart. Although, Botelho isn’t the only one to sing in Italian in the production – Andrew Shore’s wonderfully hammy Ducamara, invokes a salesman’s faux intimacy in making a sale by conversing with Nemorino in the original language, before reverting to the Amercianisms of Rourke’s libretto in his dealings with the other characters.
It’s perhaps a result of recent opulence in ENO productions (such as Rupert Goold’s also eatery-set version of Turnadot) that Isabella Bywater’s set seems rather stripped back, despite it featuring a full-sized diner that revolves around to give views of action inside and out. The 1950s setting does provide Miller with a rich seam to mine however, with Adina’s diner looking like something out of an Edward Hopper painting, and numerous moments of earthy humour being created such as in Shore evoking the spirit of Elvis in the pre-wedding celebration scene, or a dramatic plot development being delivered as gossip in the queue for the ladies lavatory round back.
Despite the production now nearing the end of its run and the fact that Donizetti’s score isn’t the most memorable, The Elixir of Love is worth making the effort to see, especially for those who are curious about opera but haven’t taken the plunge of seeing one yet. Not only is Miller’s production light and accessible, but the cultural mish-mash of English and Italian in these final performances offer the opportunity to see something genuinely unique and unexpectedly rewarding.
