Fresh off a cocktail competition, the Toledo Opera Association has whipped up a concoction that packs a powerful punch.
But don’t worry. You’ll be able to drive home, and you won’t wake up with a hangover.
I took a good stiff drink of it at Wednesday night’s dress rehearsal, and when I left the Valentine Theatre the only effects were a lightness that comes from laughing at the antics on stage, listening to the bubbly music and clear, beautiful voices, seeing fine comic acting, and feeling a warmth that only comes from forgetting about the world far removed from Gaetano Donizetti’s 1832 opera, L’Elisir D’Amore (The Elixir of Love).
How did it taste? Eccellente.
The TOA hasn’t produced the opera in about 15 years, and it was the right time, not only for Valentine’s Day, but to escape from the relentless bad news.
Along with the singing, the shining star was the fine comedic work the cast did on stage. The comedy just kept coming, from laugh-out-loud moments to the smile you can’t suppress. Give lots of credit to stage director Ian Silverman and the rest of the crew at TOA.
Nothing was overdone, and even if you’ve seen several productions of The Elixir of Love, the humor was fresh and unforced.
Well, maybe Robbie Raso’s Sergeant Belcore hammed it up. But that’s what the character is supposed to do. Raso strutted and preened and exaggerated his actions as he wooed the feisty Adina, the landowner and the object of our hero’s love. And Belcore is not the hero.
Doctor Dulcamara, the traveling purveyor of a cure-all elixir — the one that kills bedbugs and mice and makes a woman’s skin beautiful — was Toledo Opera regular Jason Budd.
It was a pleasure to see what Budd can do with a meaty role like Dulcamara instead of a sacristan in Tosca or Lt. Zuniga in Carmen; those roles, like many buffo roles, are often blink-and-you-miss it ones: While important to the plot, you only get a peek at what Budd can do.
And he can do a lot.
A fine comic actor with a strong bass, he played Dulcamara as a self-important man with no qualms about fleecing the rubes. Though he’s a swindler, he stays long enough to see a miracle happen: His love potion, a bottle of hastily converted Bordeaux, saves the day, that is, if you are gullible enough to believe it.
Budd uncorked his strong bass, nimble enough to handle Donizetti’s bel canto and a tongue-twisting solo, just like any good salesman can do. And he is among the best.
But it was Justin Scott Bays who stole the show as Dulcamara’s assistant, and he didn’t even open his mouth. His pantomime drew a lot of laughter from the audience. It was easy to find yourself watching him rather than the other characters on stage.
The main characters are Nemorino, the lovesick hero, and Adina, the strong-willed woman Nemorino pines for.
It’s tenor David Walton’s first Nemorino, and the first time’s a charm. You’re supposed to root for Nemorino to get the girl, and it’s easy to do with Walton in the role. He’s no buffoon, just gullible and sweet. You might laugh at his naivete, but your heart will feel a tug or two as he despairs of getting the girl.
People familiar with “Una Furtiva Lagrima,” one of the most beloved tenor arias, might wait for that one to judge a tenor. Walton sang it with all the emotion in his crystal-clear tenor that the aria demands, but there’s more to Nemorino than that aria.
“Adina, credimi” in Act 1 is a heartfelt aria that shows his devotion as well as his kindness and his character.
Walton’s ability to adjust his vocal color and add the right touch of nuance in the right places makes Nemorino someone the audience roots for, and rightly so.
And if Walton’s tenor is crystal clear, Marnie Breckenridge who, in her TOA debut as Adina, the focus of his affection, her soprano is his match. She leaps through Donizetti’s score without a net and doesn’t wobble or fall.
The second act aria “Prendi, per me sei libero” is a model of restraint and dignity, but when she drops the act and blurts out the truth, we witness the love that she has bottled up. Breckenridge lights up the stage.
Sarah Rachel Bacani uses her soaring soprano to infuse spirit into Adina’s friend, Gianetta. Add the women of TOA’s chorus, and you have a sublimely funny second act scene where the village women find out there’s a new millionaire in town, and he’s been right under their noses the whole time.
Time and again the chorus comes through, and that scene is just another example of what the chorus can do.
Another Toledo favorite, J. Ernest Green, conducts Donizetti’s frothy score with his typical verve.
So this Valentine’s week, take your loved one, or maybe someone you just like, to see L’Elisir D’Amore.
And let your cup runneth over.
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