It’s a third return for Laurent Pelly’s charming production of Donizetti’s bel canto romcom, updated to 1950s rural Italy.
The evening is dominated (or should that be stolen) by lyric tenor Vittorio Grigolo who, from the moment he pops up, meercat-like, at the peak of designer Chantal Thomas’s mountain of hay bales, energetically works the part of the naïve Nemorino, a simple peasant hopelessly infatuated with the richer and more sophisticated Adina.
As the petulant love interest, Lucy Crowe is vocally superb, her velvety lyric soprano just right for the role. She and Grigolo also look plausible as the young, would-be lovers, though a lack of chemistry reduces the sizzle of the plot.
Meanwhile, as Nemorino’s rival, the ridiculously macho Sergeant Belcore is hilariously overplayed by baritone Levente Molnár, who seems to be channelling Elvis.
One always expects more from the spurious potion-peddling Doctor Dulcamara, who rolls up in his van offering panacea in a bottle (though curiously doesn’t leg it before the gullible villagers realise they’ve been duped). After all, he is the link between the tiny rural world of the characters and the world-wise audience to whom he makes comic asides. And so it is here with bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, who is very watchable but owns too mighty a voice for this nimble character job.
The over-large chorus may be a bit shouty, giving it some full-scale Verdi, rather than light Donizetti. Yet the fact that they don’t really convince as sunburnt peasants adds ironic colour to what is, after all, knockabout fun. Conductor Daniele Rustioni brings the catchy music to life, while giving sensitive support in the arias, not least Nemorino’s ‘Una furtiva lagrima’, sung beneath a panoply of stars and earning the singer an extended ovation on the first night.
A solid, sunny production, it includes a dog, a tractor, a lorry and a scooter – details that clearly delight the audience. It almost catches fire, but with the principals working independently, not quite.
L'Elisir d'Amore is back at the Royal Opera House in May 2017, with two casts led by Pretty Yende and Liparit Avetisyan, and Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna. This review is from its 2014 run.