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 L’elisir d’amore is Boston Lyric Opera’s co-production with Fort Worth Opera, Opera Colorado, and The San Francisco Opera. Stage Director James Robinson spoke with Becky Lathrop, Director of Marketing at Opera Colorado, about L’elisir d’amore. We thank them for sharing this interview.
Describe the concept of the staging—what inspired you to set the opera in middle-America in the 1910s? Does the opera have relevance to this period over others?
Elixir is a very simple story in so many ways and because of the timelessness of that story, I did not feel it was important to keep it in the original setting of a provincial Italian town. But simple stories are often the most difficult to present to the public and often require the hardest work. Having seen it done in a very traditional way a couple of times, I thought it might be possible to make the situations and characters a little more vivid or relevant. We really had no concerns that moving the period and location was going to be a jarring surprise. Instead, I think it gives a gentle “way in” to further appreciating the plights of the characters, not unlike what we did with Abduction. Sometimes giving an opera a very specific look or treatment can actually enhance the overall storytelling and I believe this is the case with Elixir.
Talk about the ‘dynamic design team’ Allen Moyer, Marty Pakledinaz, Paul Palazzo, etc. and how their talents have influenced the production.
Well, how can you find a better team than this? Allen has done a lot of work with me over the years (Abduction, Carmen, La bohème, Norma, etc.) and he is well-represented on Broadway with Grey Gardens and Little Dog Laughed. Marty is simply the finest American costume designer out there and it’s impossible to list his amazing credits in the worlds of opera, Broadway, ballet, etc. And, of course, Paul is a first-class lighting designer who has done terrific work all over the country. The most important thing about this team is that each possesses a keen dramatic sense, a dramaturgical sense that works perfectly for a project like this. Plus, in this particular approach to the opera, it’s important to not just treat it like a great opera but also a bit like a great work of music theatre. All along the design process we would say things like: “Oh, it’s like that moment in Oklahoma, wow, this is a bit like Music Man, isn’t it?” So I’m tremendously thrilled that these gentlemen are bringing their incredible talents to the production.
Elixir is a comedy with a variety of characters. Describe what the characters represent and how they evolve throughout the opera. Are there any revealing arias that stand out to really define specific moments?
As I said before, it’s a pretty simple story: boy likes girl, boy lacks courage to talk to girl, boy seeks help, and boy gets girl in the end. Of course, along the way are huge difficulties and comic situations that make it the charming story that it is: we have a city slicker snake-oil salesman who comes to town and a macho but ultimately not too bright soldier who catches the eye of the town beauty. You can see these archetypical characters in any romantic comedy, particularly certain operas, so our job is to make the situations credible or at least serious. The thing about comedy is that you have to make the stakes seem very high. In other words, great comedy is very serious business.
I’m constantly amazed at the music and the dramatic writing in this piece. It’s easy to dismiss Donizetti as pretty lightweight stuff, but this piece is wonderfully detailed and sophisticated. It’s hard to think of an aria or a specific moment that stands out. For me, I am charmed as soon as the overture begins.
What elements of the characters were considered in casting the roles? Have you done anything in particular to prepare the artists?
I tend to cast artists based on my experience with them or how I have reacted to them in performance. Maria Kanyova is, quite simply, my favorite singing actress and we have done a large body of work together, ranging from comedy to serious drama. She is an incredibly skilled artist and extremely versatile as a vocalist. I think the artists know me well enough to trust me to put them in interesting situations. There’s a lot of confidence on both sides.
Is there anything about Donizetti’s operas that strike you as particularly challenging or exciting?
As I mentioned, I have a huge appreciation of his operas and of Donizetti as a dramatist. The challenges put forth are more about certain conventions in bel canto repertory that have to be addressed: structure of arias, repetition of text, etc. But once you get beyond that and/or start speaking that language, you find endless possibilities. For me, operas like Elixir, Lucia and Bellini’s Norma are superior Italian musical dramatic works and pieces that surpass most of the works of Verdi. I admire Verdi and don’t think he’s a bad composer, obviously, but he doesn’t always hit a home run (who does?) in the total arc of a piece (although it’s hard to find flaw in Traviata, Ballo, Falstaff, Rigoletto, Otello, etc.—the hits). I think Donizetti also had an incredible comic sense that survives today. Elixir is very witty; Don Pasquale is both funny and sad. So it’s a pleasure to work on these operas. And I see a direct line from them to the great musical comedy works of the American stage.
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